Oasis, and the Battle for Freedom
by HappyTheCamper
Summary: The Magic Council is in dire need of help, a dangerous crime-ring is ruling in the south, and a mysterious stranger comes to visit Magnolia. Watch and enjoy as the fun-loving Fairy Tail team is hurled into the depths of darkness as they try to stop a cataclysmic event from destroying all of Ishgar. Features drama, humor, mild romance, original characters, and a whole lot of Happy!
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Hello, this is HappyCamper999, and I'm here with my first ever Fan fiction story! I'm very excited to be writing for the first time, but I'm new to the website so this will take getting use to.**

 **Anyway, Enjoy! :D**

 ** _Disclaimer: It is important to say that_ _I do not own Fairy Tail. It, its story, characters, settings and all other aspects are the property of Hiro Mashima. The only aspects of this story I can claim are the plot, and several original characters._**

* * *

Oasis and the Battle for Freedom

Prologue

* * *

As the sun set on the small town of ERA, several members of the Magic Council of Earth-Land began a lengthy discussion concerning a rising threat in the southern seas of the world.

"But sir there is no need for any more hesitation. We must act on the situation at once!"

"Lahar, I am terribly sorry, but there are several issues that we must adhere to before storming the shores of the island. Besides the costs alone would be dramatic, and there's no way we could assemble the right sized team and still find the necessary funds to make it to the island."

Chairman of the Magic Council, Gran Doma, was very adamant on his decision to monitor the activities of certain crime lords who were running a muck in the south, but he seemed to be rather naïve when actually trying to administer any sort of direct response.

"I hate to push the issue even further, but I'm afraid Marshall Lahar is right, we need to do something about these criminals before they get out of hand." responded councilman Org. Although he hated the thought of beginning a reckless mission with these criminals, he too felt it was time for the council to act. "Whether you like it or not, I will be addressing the issue to the entire council during tomorrow's meeting."

"You will do no such thing!" Gran Doma exclaimed. "We will organize some form of preliminary planning before any actual discussions take place. We cannot have any holes in our operation, and it will be hard to convince the entire council of the urgency."

"Hold on here." Said a fourth man sitting at the table. "I think you all may be over analyzing things. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Magic Council host the original claims to the island?"

"Nigel, brings up a good point, sir." Lahar responded, turning to Gran Doma as he explained. "The island use to be used as the Magic Council's testing grounds for our magical weaponry. It was there that they first developed the _Etherion Cannon_."

"This is true, but the Magic Council has abandoned their claim to the island for quite some time now." Gran Doma argued. "This is the real reason these thugs are able to get away with their operations. They know we have zero intentions to fully monitor these old bombing grounds, so they continue to conduct their crimes underneath the surface in that hole-in-the-ground they call ' _Oasis'_."

" …and your point is?" Nigel pulled out a flask from his coat pocket. "I was under the impression that the Magic Council made it their duty to monitor _all_ magical activities throughout Earth-Land. If that's the truth, then you all really have no business arguing any further. You must act on the situation as soon as possible."

Lahar agreed. "He's right sir. We cannot let these southern isles leave our watch the same way the Western Empires have."

"Well, unless that's just the alcohol talking, Nigel..." Gran Doma paused to collect his final thought. "...Lahar, the two of you offer a valid point. However, as we stated before, there is a large issue concerning the funds needed for any operation, not to mention a fully trained team to begin an assault."

He then stood from the table and gave them his final concern, directing his comment to the young man chugging on his flask. "Unless you are willing to grant use several loans to begin these operations, then we must continue sitting on any plans we have."

Nigel nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I never did say my funds were off limits? But if we're going to do this with _my_ money, we're going to use _my_ plan."

" _Your_ Plan?" Org asked with a great hesitation looming on his words. "What is your plan exactly?"

"Well..." Nigel laughed and spun his chair around to try and cover up his embarrassed expression. He then took another gulp of from his drink. "It involves a small task force entering the grounds of these facilities undetected to conduct simple surveillance operations."

He paused, and performed a now confident twirl of his chair. "And seeing how these criminals appear to be very 'dangerous,' it may be easier to hire a _wizarding guild_ to help with our infiltration."

Gran Doma rolled his eyes, and responded as if he had an idea for where all of this was going. "Let me guess, you had a certain guild in mind?"

Nigel looked down the lid of his now empty flask, but stopped to deliver a reply. "Well yea! As a matter a fact I do, and there's no reason why they _wouldn't_ be perfect."

"Why is that?" Lahar asked, still arriving late to the clue.

Nigel grinned and tossed the flask on the table. He then leaned in to deliver his final thought.

"Because they've already proven their superiority. They've recently won the _Grand Magic Games._ "

* * *

 **A little note that I probably don't have to mention, but I expect readers to have _some_ knowledge in the Fairy Tail Universe. Also for reference, this story should be placed chronologically after the Grand Magic Games story arc (Even more specific: After the Eclipse/Filler arc.) so roughly August in the Earth-Land year X791.**

 **Chapter one follows with the characters you all know and love!**


	2. Chapter One-The Guild Above All Others

**Author's note: Hello! Here is the first chapter to follow the prologue. Enjoy!**

 **Again, I do not own _Fairy Tail_ , please read prologue to see full disclaimer.**

* * *

Chapter One - The Guild Above All Others

* * *

It was a beautiful August afternoon on the outskirts of Magnolia. The hills and trees were all responding perfectly with the sunny weather, and a nice breeze rolled over the west side of town as a gentle wind. It was also at this time that our familiar _Fairy Tail_ heroes were walking home from a long job request that took them all the way across Fiore.

As they made it back into town, Natsu started cheering with relief as he and his guild mates finally made it home, after yet another botched attempt to get Lucy her monthly rent money.

"Boy it sure feels good being back in Magnolia! I don't think my feet were gonna make it much longer!"

"Well Natsu, if some of us didn't mind riding the train once in a while then we wouldn't have to hike to every job!"

"Lucy, you know he would never suggest using the train!" Yelled the little blue cat, Happy.

Gray agreed from right behind the three as he gave them all a laugh. "Yea, besides I don't think Natsu's really smart enough to get the sarcasm in your comment."

Natsu yelled in response to the Ice Mage's slander and stopped dead in his tracks. "You tryin' to start something, _Popsicle-head_?! Cause it would be my honor to smack you clear across town!"

"Are you kidding me!" Gray leaned into Natsu's face, taking off his shirt at the same time. "You couldn't even move me one foot backwards!"

The Dragon Slayer took that challenge head on, and ignited his fists with fire in the process. "You wanna play then!? Cause I'd be really happy with provin' you wrong!"

Gray backed into his _Ice-Make_ stance and prepared for a brawl. "I'd like to see you land one hit on me _Flame-Brain!_ "

"Go Natsu!" Happy yelled out, clearly trying to encourage the worst out of both of them.

Lucy responded with a sorry sigh. "Please don't encourage them…"

"Guys stop it before Erza turns around!" Whe young blue-haired girl, Wendy pleaded. "You know she's still angry about breakfast this morning!"

"Those poor cooks…" Replied Wendy's little exceed, Carla. "If only they didn't try yelling at Erza after messing up her meal. And then they had the nerve to argue with her about the price!"

"Don't worry Wendy. I'm fully aware of what Natsu and Gray are doing." The red-haired Erza responded, all while not turning around.

The rest of the group paused with slight fear while Natsu and Gray backed out of their stances and simmered down.

"You…are…?" Natsu whimpered with fear.

"Yes, but I'm far too tired to do anything about it." The re-quip mage exclaimed. "Besides, the two of you are clearly exhausted after our long walk this morning. I would be willing to wager that neither of you are truly able to fight one another."

"Yea yea…either way I know I'd win." Natsu said sheepishly as he took this whole thing as his victory.

"Natsu, could you at least wait until we've made it back to the guild?" Lucy replied with a hopeful request.

"Whatever." The pink haired wizard yelled with relief just as the upper Magnolia sky line focused into view over the hills. "I'm just excited to get off my feet and get back home!"

His blue exceed friend yelled in agreement and flew overhead. "Aye Sir! Now it's time to relax and enjoy some of Mirajane's home cooking!"

* * *

Later that day, after arriving back to the _Fairy Tail_ Guild Hall, Natsu and the others sat at the bar and began reciting tales of their recent job to their fellow guild mates.

"Oh man you guys totally shoulda' been there! There were over fifty of them, and they didn't even stand a chance!" Natsu bragged with humor as he gorged on his afternoon meal.

"Sounds like fun, but are you sure there were that many all at once?" Macao the elder fire mage asked with amusement.

"Yea? Knowing you there were probably only like five of them." His friend, Wakaba agreed, chewing on his cigarette to hold in his laughter. "And I imagine your tore that bank up pretty well too?"

"Let's not talk about that part, please!" Lucy demanded while holding her face in her palms. "I'm still trying to cope with the fact that they took it out of our reward...Now I'm going to be short on my rent this month!"

"Calm down, Lucy. We'll just take up another job tomorrow." Gray responded, accepting a mug of ale from the lovely miss Mirajane at the bar. "At least you got half of it paid."

"I hardly call 20,000 Jewel half!" The Celestial Wizard exclaimed. "Can't we just go on one mission without wrecking the place?"

"Tell that to the red haired monster!" Natsu rebutted with rage. "She's the one that decided to wreck the diner this morning after the cooks messed up her breakfast!"

"Natsu, I wouldn't say that if I were you." Happy replied in a quiet tone.

Erza still overheard them, but tried to let a cup of tea calm her nerves as she made her claim. "They began arguing with me, and refused to give me a refund. They deserved every ounce of anger I had."

"Either way, it was ridiculous to go on that rampage!" Carla responded. "You knew fully well once you began Natsu was going to join in."

"It doesn't matter now, the trip is over and we can all just forget it." Gray had enough, and took a large gulp from his mug.

"Oh Gray, my darling!" Juvia said as she ran over to Gray with passion. "I'm just happy you made it back in one piece! I was beginning to worry!"

"Well thanks for _worrying_ about the rest of us." Lucy replied bitterly. "Anyway, did we miss anything around here while we were gone?"

"Nothing much." Said the resident drinker, Cana, who was holding a bag of ice over her head. "We had a small drinking party, but eventually it turned into just me and the Master draining the bar's main liquor supplies in a drinking contest."

"That sounds…fun. Who ended up winning, exactly?" Lucy asked, but wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Neither one of us really remembers, but I am fairly confident I drank him under the table!" The drunken beauty began to boast as he head injury began fading away.

"Yea, poor Mira spent all morning cleaning up the mess." Levy added while frowning and putting her book down. "They broke like 3 bar stools and a whole table."

"Oh it wasn't _that_ bad." Mira said sweetly. "I was just happy to see everyone having a good time!"

"That sounds better." Lucy smiled at the bartender's response. "It's a shame we had to miss it."

"Well we can always have another one!" The white haired beauty said in excitement. "Though, we will have to re-supply the bar which may take all day, so how about tomorrow?"

"Darn it!" Lucy exclaimed, sounding rather depressed with her suggestion. "We were planning on taking another job tomorrow to help make up for yesterday's mess."

Natsu grinned, and patted his blonde friend on the back "Don't worry, Lucy! We can always find another job later this week!"

"Yea, I guess so." Lucy replied, and accepted the fact that she would now have to go several days without being able to pay her rent.

Just then however, the doors of the guild hall swung open, revealing a tall, man with brown hair and sunglasses who stood in the doorway. He was dressed in a long sleeved dark blue button up, along with long khaki pants that came down near his ankles, and plain brown sandals.

He removed his glasses and began to look around the room with bewilderment as he entered the building.

"So this is _Fairy Tail_?" He said in amusement, barely able to contain his bright grin.

"Yea, who's askin'?" Natsu stood up to respond as he never recognized this man's appearance or smell in his life..

The young man replied with a slight hesitation. "O-oh, I'm sorry. I guess I did just sort of barge in. The name's Nigel Thomas and I'm here looking for some help."

Macao Conbolt thought to himself as everyone else began to talk with the guest. " _Nigel Thomas. Now where have I heard that name before?_ "

"Sounds great! We like helpin' people here at _Fairy Tail_!" Natsu replied in excitement now that the guest sounded a lot friendlier. "My name's Natsu. What sorta help you looking for?"

"Eehh, Natsu I think it would be better idea if we directed him to Master Makarov." Lucy suggested, trying to drag Natsu away from the visitor.

" _The_ Natsu? Natsu _Dragneel_?" Nigel asked in excitement before the pink haired boy made it out of his sight. "The same Natsu who single handedly defeated the twin dragon slayers of _Sabertooth_ during the _Grand Magic Games_?"

"Hehe! You're lookin' at him!" Natsu boasted with pride and put a fist up to his chest. "Glad to see you're a fan of the guild!"

"You have no idea." Nigel replied with an eager and slightly spastic response. "I-I followed most of your guild's matches during the Games. Sadly I had to miss attending them for work, but I'm glad to see you all brought home the title!"

Macao then remembered something, and quickly responded. "Hold on, are you the same Nigel Thomas who runs the kingdom's shipping and trading?"

"Well Yes and No." The young man timidly admitted. "I _am_ a businessman who deals in shipping, and some of our clients do involve the Kingdoms, and the Magic Council...but for the most part I run my own trading units, along with my _other_ companies."

Wakaba interjected. "Hang on, you're tellin' us that you're the same Nigel Thomas who runs that _A.N.T. Konzern_?

"Ehhh, Yea that me..." He answered with little enthusiasm. "Hehe, I see you guys have heard of it?"

"Heard of it? It's one of the largest businesses in Ishgar!" Macao exclaimed. "Aren't you worth like 5 billion Jewel?"

"Trillion..." Nigel quickly corrected him, but tried to brush it under the table. "...and yea I try not to flaunt that."

" _5 Trillion Jewel?!_ " Everyone sitting near the conversation quickly turned towards Nigel. He laughed and attempted to redirect the conversation, but miserably failed.

"Yea…I was actually the one who supplied the prize money for the Grand Magic Games? I never had them reveal that though..."

"Well boy we're glad you paid out!" Natsu cheered with support. "We got this place looking pretty nice after getting that prize money."

"Glad you guys could use it!" Nigel rushed to reply. "Now about my job request?"

"Sure, if you're willing to pay out that much we're all ears!" Macao replied.

"Guys, he's clearly trying not to make a big deal about his money." Lucy stepped in, having a little sympathy for people trying to hide their wealth. She then tried taking over Fairy Tail's end of the deal. "I'm sorry about them, my name's Lucy. It's nice to meet you!"

Lucy stuck out her hand for a hand shake, but quickly became uneasy after looking at Nigel responsive expression. He looked rather pleased to see her, which left her feeling uneasy.

Quickly catching on to who this was, Nigel laughed and responded. "So you must be Lucy _Heartfilia_? It is really nice to finally meet you!"

Embarrassed, but flattered she responded with a small, confused blush. "Ahehe, I don't suppose you know me from the Games as well?"

"Yea." Nigel sort of agreed. "I do recall you had several matches in the earlier stages of the Games, but then you suddenly vanished on day five?"

"Yea, it's a long story, and not one I'm really proud of..." She confirmed his statement while laughing.

"I'm sure it is, but even then that's not the only place I know you from."

The timid blonde looked even more confused, which left her more uncomfortable. "O-oh, well to be honest I haven't heard of you or your business before now."

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to!" Nigel was slowly growing more and more comfortable inside the guild hall. "But the reason I know you is because…"

Just then, Nigel was interrupted as Master Makarov and Mirajane entered the main bar room from the upstairs offices.

"Holy smokes, you weren't lyin' Mira, it's actually him!" Makarov quickly made his way towards Nigel and stuck is hand out for a hand shake. "Hello, I'm the Guild's Master, Makarov Dreyor. It's an honor to finally meet you!"

Nigel turned and laughed. "The pleasure is all mine! I'm excited I finally get to see the _Fairy Tail_ guild in person. I was just introducing myself to some of your members."

Makarov directed Nigel towards the bar as he put his hand behind his back. "Well be careful around some of them. Not all of the wizards here carry brains. How would you like a drink?"

"Glad you asked!" Nigel responded as Mira handed him a mug of ale. "It's an honor to be served by the lovely Miss Mirajane herself."

Mira laughed and gave him a laugh. "Oh you're too kind! I'm glad you're enjoying the guild!"

"Yea, me too." He took a drink from his mug, and finally reveal his intentions. "Now that I'm finally here, we can begin discussing my job request."

* * *

 **So Nigel's rich, but he's very uncomfortable talking about it?**

 **For the record, the reason I made him a _trillionaire_ and not a million or billionaire is because in FT, the money "Jewels" are worth a lot less than our real life dollars, so I had to scale it up to have it make sense. **

**Anyway that's Nigel! Hopefully he hasn't scared you off just yet! I hope you're enjoying it so far! Tell me what you thought!**


	3. Chapter Two-A Trip to Hargeon Town

**Author's Note: Hey it's Happy, and here's chapter 2! Since I already have the chapters completed over on word, I'm probably gonna upload two a day. I hate the idea of my story sitting non-completed for a while, so hopefully this will speed things up.**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Two - A Trip to Hargeon Town

* * *

After Nigel left the guild hall later that evening, the remaining members of _Fairy Tail_ began to discuss his intentions.

"Boy was that guy cool or what! He said he owns like five different companies!" Natsu exclaimed while stuffing his face with Mira's late night cooking.

"Nah, I'm sure he just helps run a few of them." Lucy responded with a more logical correction. "They're all probably smaller companies that are a part of his Konzern."

Romeo, who joined in on the conversation along with several other members responded "Wow Lucy, you seem to know a lot about business."

She replied with a shrug as she stole some food of Natsu's plate. "Well it's easy for me. I grew up with my dad and the _Heartfilia Konzern_. A Konzern simply acts like a blanket company, and that larger group can eventually buy out several smaller companies to create a large one."

She then added up that fact, and the supposed fame of Nigel in her head. "That being said, I'm really surprised I haven't heard of his before."

"Yea, me too." Gray said in agreement. "You think he built it while we were all frozen in time on Tenrou Island?"

"Yea, hey Macao!" Natsu interjected while finishing his meal. "That would explain how you and Wakaba knew who he was!"

"Actually you're right." Macao claimed. "Over the past several years he's slowly grown into a pretty big deal. I'm just wondering what he wants with a wizard guild?"

"Well the flier he left with the Master seems to be pretty straight forward." Erza quickly responded. "He seems to be in need of several dock workers to help get his new operations started in Hargeon."

Wakaba shook his head. "Nah, he asked for something call stevedores...oh wait a minute."

Natsu was still confused. "Hold on, Steve _Who_?"

Lucy responded while shaking her head. "No Natsu, a _stevedore_ is a dock worker. I'm guessing he needs help opening up his Hargeon branch."

"That sounds totally easy!" The Fire Dragon Slayer shouted. "I'm down to work it! Eh well, as long as I don't have to ride any of his stinkin' boats."

"Yea and if we're lucky maybe he'll give us a nice reward." Gray added with the right idea in mind.

"Hang on a minute! Why do you all get to take this job?" The Sand Mage, Max pointed out while listing. "After all you seemed to botch you're last chance at making money just this morning."

"Yea, it's obvious this guy needs a _real_ man to help move his stuff!" The large, but comical Elfman boasted with pride. "Which is why me and my sisters will be taking it!"

"Hold on, I think team _Shadow Gear_ could really use the cash." Levy pointed out to her fellow guild mates. "We haven't had a decent job in months!"

Eventually, this arguing turned into a small scale riot, but ironically, _Natsu_ of all people stood before everyone with the flier in his hand.

"Everyone else can just pipe down! It's obvious _we're_ taking this job! After all we owe Lucy some extra pocket change for the mess up yesterday."

Lucy smiled and sighed. "Thanks Natsu, but I don't want to take it unless the whole team is willing to go." She stopped and turned around, rubbing her hands together while grinning. " _Alhough, I could use that money for more than just rent...After all I am in need of a new wardrobe_!" she thought to herself suspiciously.

Erza exclaimed, and reclaimed the flier from Natsu's hand. "Very well. Everyone, are we all okay with taking this job for ourselves?"

Wendy nervously replied. "I don't know, it sounds like a weird job."

Happy yelled in response. "Aye! We can totally use the money to buy us all fish while we're in Hargeon!"

"Or something a little more _practical_ …?" Lucy said with confusion and slight anger.

"Enough!" Master Makarov yelled from across the room. "It doesn't really matter, because Nigel himself has requested the presence of Natsu's team for this job."

"Oh yea! In your faces!" Natsu yelled at everyone else in the hall while laughing.

Wendy was still concerned. "But Master, what if some of us aren't very good at lifting heavy things?"

"Don't worry!" Happy replied. "Lucy will be fine! She can use one of her spirits to help her if she gets tired." He turned away and began to chuckle.

"Watch it you little fur ball!" Lucy responded in anger as she reached out for his tail.

Makarov took back the conversation. "Well Wendy, if you are not feeling comfortable I'm sure we can find a replacement. I was planning on sending a few extra members to help you all anyway."

Wendy smiled and finally nodded. "Eh it's okay. I'll be fine now that I think about."

"Very Well!" Makarov affirmed her response while putting his foot down. "You all will go accompany Nigel Thomas at his shipping port in Hargeon in the name of _Fairy Tail_!"

The guild cheered with support as he continued. "And if I hear one word of any destruction or damages made to his port, I'll throw those responsible out of this guild faster than you can say "I'm sorry!'"

"Sounds like a plan!" Natsu responded. "I wonder which other guild members are going with us?"

* * *

The next day, Team Natsu and company began their hike towards Hargeon Town. However, after the Master made his additions to the group, the leader was left with pure anger facing the results.

"Of _all_ the members in the guild why did Gramps have to ask _you_ to come?!" Natsu yelled in anger as he kept his head forward.

"HAH! Quit your whining, Salamander before I knock your teeth in!" Yelled the Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel.

"I'm with Natsu." Lucy said in confusion. "The Master knew the two of them would fight. So why did he send him with us?"

"It seems that the Master was trying to add a little extra muscle to the team." Replied the black exceed, Pantherlily. "He's probably anticipating a lot of lifting and moving heavy equipment."

Wendy responded in agreement."That's okay. I don't think Carla and I will be able to help with some of the lifting."

Grey interjected. "That's fair and all, but why did he send you with us, Cana?"

"Hehe!" Cana laughed and gave him a grin. "The Master wants me to talk Nigel into taking another visit to the guild. I guess he's looking for more funding or something, and Master thought a little bar talk would get the job done."

She then caught herself and leaned into Lucy with a flirtatious manor. "Not that I mind, he _is_ a rich boy after all."

Lucy blushed with embarrassment. "What are you looking at _me_ for?"

Cana began teasing the blonde as they continued walking. "Oh come on, you were acting totally embarrassed any time he looked at you!"

"Y-yea, but that had nothing to do with his looks!" She quickly defended herself. "He acted like he knew me or something...I wonder why."

Happy wasn't buying it and quickly interjected. "Lucy's in _Looove_!"He laughed as he flew over her head.

Lucy answered with rage "Happy, I'll throw you back to the Guild Hall if you don't SHUT UP!"

Natsu replied. "Oh yea that reminds me! Did the guy ever tell you where he knew you from, Lucy?"

She pondered and answered with continued confusion. "Now that you mention it, he never did say anything..."

Erza was quick to reply. "No need to worry. I'm sure we'll have all our questions answered after we complete the job."

* * *

As the guild members entered the ports of Hargeon, they came across a large swath of boardwalk that held a large amount of ships, buildings and crates. Above them stood an arching sign that read " _ANT SHIPPING: A Member of the A.N.T. Konzern._ "

"Jeeze, this guy sure likes thrownin' his businesses around in big letters!" Natsu said while looking over the entire scene. "And they all have goofy names!"

"Natsu, he's just advertising his companies." Lucy looked on in curiosity. "Still, I wonder why he named it _ANT Shipping,_ or for that matter what does _A.N.T._ stand for anyway?

"Well, let's find him and see for ourselves." Erza said with a smile and looked on towards the boardwalk.

Leading the group, Erza and the rest of the team navigated their way through the docks. It was clear that this operation was very large, because as one ship would leave port, more would quickly fill its place, and one by one the stacks of crates along the still youthful pier grew larger and larger by the minute.

"This guy wasn't kidding around. Look at this place!" Gray made his remark in awe as more and more ships poured into the bay.

"Yea! Maybe you guys are right. He may give us a big reward after all!" Wendy smiled with excitement.

Carla responded "Calm down, child. I'm sure he'll base his pay in relation to the amount of work we give him. He _is_ a businessman after all."

The Iron Dragon Slayer started agreeing with everyone as he now confirmed it was a good idea to follow along. "You know now that ya' mention it, I'm not so mad about having to tag along with you, Salamander. You guys are on to something here."

Natsu laughed and gave him an obvious grin. "Told ya this guy's rich! Now let's find him so we can get started. I'm all fired up just thinking about it!"

"There they are!" Nigel yelled as he came off a large white ship that was docked next to their party. "I'm glad you guys could make it! Welcome to the _ANT_ Hub of Hargeon!"

"We're glad to be here." Said Erza. "This is quite an impressive operation you're running here. I'm surprised none of us had heard of this business prior to your arrival."

"Oh that's because we usually operate from the West Coast of Fiore." The brown haired captain explained. "However, I've recently taken the initiative to move more shipping into this side of the country, and sure enough Hargeon decided to let me into their port."

"Hey Nigel, you mind us asking what the _ANT_ stands for?" Gray asked in curiosity.

"Oh those are my initials." Nigel answer. "My real name is Andrew, but over the years I've switched to using my middle name, _Nigel_. I've heard it makes me sound more sophisticated or something? I dunno, I have some pretty goofy advisers..."

"Oh, so 'A.N.T.' stands for _Andrew Nigel Thomas_?" Happy asked in excitement.

"Exactly!" Nigel confirmed. "However, with my original company _ANT Shipping_ , I had it changed to just read _ANT_ like the bug. It's supposed to be a mascot or something. Our marketing team came up with it. When referencing my Konzern company however, it's _A.N.T_."

"Well, I guess we should know that before working." Erza took it all in while smiling. "I imagine you met most of us yesterday, but I'm not sure the two of us have truly been introduced. My name is Erza Scarlet."

"No need for the introduction Miss Scarlet, I am very familiar with your career." He smiled and gave her a businessman's handshake. "Or should I say _Miss Titania_?"

"You flatter me." She responded with a smile. " _Erza_ will work just fine."

"Glad to hear it." Nigel laughed with joy and clapped his hands together. "Well I am truly excited to see all of you here! Let's go ahead and divide into groups. I can use some of you with maintenance and heavy lifting. And for those of you who don't enjoy that, you can help me with some of the filings and organizing in my office."

* * *

 **So I'm in the middle of typing these chapters, and as soon as I wrote out Elfman saying "real man" I thought ..."Yea, I can do this fan fic stuff!" It's soo funny to try and capture the real character's from the show, I'm really enjoying it!**


	4. Chapter Three-The Man behind the Money

**Author's Note: Here's chapter three. These next few chapters were pretty hard to write, because they really stretch out the detail of Nigel and his back story. It's hard to make OC's sound appealing, because I imagine most fans of the show aren't to see them. Oh well I think it works if you write them sort of small scale...Let me know what you think as his story is revealed!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Three - The Man Behind the Money

* * *

After a few small introductions to get them all started, Nigel directed Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Erza, Happy and Lily towards the outer docks for maintenance. He then brought Lucy, Wendy, Cana and Carla into the offices along the pier to begin inside work.

"I really hope Natsu, Gray and Gajeel don't break anything. I can't afford to lose another reward!" Lucy pleaded to her friends as she carried a box of papers over to a desk.

Cana replied with confidence. "I'm sure they'll be fine! After all, Erza's there to help straighten them out."

"Yes, and Happy and Lily will keep the Dragon Slayers occupied from the thought destroying each other." Carla added in agreement as they all settled in on their own tasks.

"I'm just glad we aren't expected to do any heavy lifting." Wendy said in relief. "Those crates out there look huge!"

"Yea, hopefully there won't be anything worse than this." Lucy added as the boxes now seemed lighter and lighter in a thought of comparison.

"Who cares?!" Cana exclaimed. "You guys can keep playing in here all you want, but as soon as mister 'money bags' comes back in here I'm gonna see if he can give me a little tour of his boat." She grinned as she continued her "work."

"Great…" Lucy responded as she now read the situation. "…That's the enthusiasm we were looking for."

As the four of them began organizing the office, each of them chose to _lightly_ look through the documents found inside the filing boxes.

"Jeeze. Lucy are you seeing the numbers on these sheets?" Cana asked in surprise as her more educated friend looked back.

"Yea!" Lucy replied. "This guy's really making money here. I guess if he's had enough money to buy out 4 other businesses than he's bound to make an impressive profit."

"Did he ever say what his other companies do exactly?" Wendy asked.

Lucy looked at the papers for any clues. "I'm not sure, but I bet they have something to do with shipping or ship building."

As they continued to look over the documents, Cana found a very interesting piece of paper in her box.

"Hey Lucy, wasn't your dad a member of the _Love & Lucky_ Merchant Guild back in Acalypha?"

Lucy turned around in confusion. "Yea, why do you ask?"

Cana showed Lucy one of her papers. "Because all of these documents are marked with their guild emblem."

Lucy looked over the document. "Huh, that is interesting, I wonder if he was a member?"

Just then, Nigel barged through the door carrying another large box of papers.

"Good lord! I just found more of these things on my boat. Looks like the Royal Family had a few more order requests than I thought."

"You mean the Royal family of Fiore?" Lucy asked.

"Yea" Nigel responded in exhaustion "King Toma. I imagine you guys met him and his daughter, Princess Hisui during the Games?"

"Yea!" Wendy replied. "They were both really nice. The King dressed up like a pumpkin for the festival too. It was pretty funny!"

"Well it seems like they're in need of some worldly raw materials." Nigel explained. "I'm guessing they're trying to build some new facilities for the soldiers in Crocus. He's asking for some stone and lumber that's found all the way on the other side of Ishgar."

"Can your ships get him those supplies?" Lucy asked.

"Oh yea." Nigel said with confidence. "It's just funny whenever he makes these radical demands for exotic building materials."

"Yea, that does sound funny." Lucy agreed, but then pulled out the paper given to her by Cana. "Hey Nigel, we came across a few of these sheets in our boxes. Are you related to Love and Lucky by chance?"

She handed Nigel one of the _Love & Lucky_ Guild sheets. His face after seeing the document explained it all."Oh my, I haven't seen one of these in several years."

"Were you a member of the Guild?" Lucy quickly asked. "I-If you don't mind my asking that is."

"Yea, as a matter of fact I was." He replied with a soothing smile. "Speaking of which that reminds me, I never told you where I knew you from." He began to dig threw one of the boxes while continuing to explain.

"It just so happens that I joined the _Love & Lucky_ Guild in X785 on my nineteenth birthday. After joining I began to work with the senior members, and sure enough I met your father, Jude." He then handed Lucy an old picture that showed Nigel and Jude inside their office at _Love & Lucky_.

Lucy took the photo, but quickly became uneasy. "Oh, that's interesting."

Nigel looked puzzled, but then stepped back with both hands raised in embarrassment. "Oh no I-I am terribly sorry, Lucy! I hope you knew of his..."

"No it's not that, I knew he had passed away." She quickly responded. "It's just that the last time one of my dad's former so called 'friends' came to meet us she turned out to be a villain in disguise."

Nigel looked shocked, and rather startled to hear that. "Oh god, that's awful...Please don't think I'm trying to plan anything like that!"

Lucy replied and waved it away. "No, not at all! You seem pretty legitimate with you company. Although it looks like you weren't really around before our guild got trapped in time."

Nigel sighed with comfort and responded. "You bring up a good point." He leaned back onto the desk "Back in X784 when you all became trapped on _Tenrou Island_ I had just moved to Fiore. I am originally from the western empires, and I came here to pursue better opportunity. Soon after I found my way to Acalypha and became a student of business under your father. After a few years at _Love & Lucky_ I left for Crocus to take actual classes at their school of business, and to begin my full operations with _ANT Shipping_. Over the past two years, I acquired several other companies that deal with engineering and mining for resources, and overtime I created the _A.N.T. Konzern_. Now I'm beginning more expansions out of Fiore and all over Ishgar."

"Wow that's really impressive!" Wendy replied. "You're only 25 and you've already got a worldwide company."

Nigel laughed. "Well when you put it that way I guess it is. What's even funnier is I'm technically the same age as most of you, except without the time skip I actually aged."

Lucy thought about that for a moment. "Huh, that is funny. Well we're glad you could finally meet some of our guild members!"

Just then, Cana decided to interject. "Oh that reminds me. Hey Nigel, mind showin' me to the nearest bar?" She made sure to keep a sultry grin while she made the request.

"Not at all..." Nigel paused and quickly collected himself. He smiled and leaned in the doorway. "But just so you know my bar is for professionals only."

"Mm-hmm." Cana raised an eyebrow, and nearly flirted as she grabbed his arm and locked it with her own. "You'll just have to bring your A-Game if you wanna see what a _real_ pro looks like."

"Sounds like a plan." He responded while grinning. "I've been drinking all my life, and being a dock worker ever since I was 10 really makes me..."

"Ssh sh sh...you had me already..." She agreed, and they walked out of the office talking and bragging about their individual drinking escapades.

Everyone else paused, and Lucy responded while sounding very annoyed "Please tell me they were strictly talking about drinking..."

Wendy agreed. "Yea that was strange. Now that I think about it those two seem really similar in a lot of different ways...I hope she can do what the Master asked."

Carla responded with anger. "Well it appears that Nigel's true colors have shown. To be completely honest I'm not sure I _want_ to know what the Master asked her to do. It better not be degrading!"

"I'm sure it isn't." Lucy pointing that out while she continued stacking boxes. "Besides, the Master knew he was a big drinker. He's probably just sent Cana here to win him over in favor of the guild."

* * *

While they continued their chore, Natsu and the others were working outside along the pier, moving heavy crates of raw goods off the ships and into large stacks across the dock.

"Jeeze! How many more of these crates are we supposed to move?" Natsu asked in exhaustion.

"Quit whining, Salamander! Put your back into it and keep up the work!" Gajeel responded sharply.

The Fire Dragon Slayer replied with rage. "You know, I don't need your lip while we do this job! Come to think of it, I'm not really sure why you're working so close to me!"

His Iron Dragon counterpart then threw down his end of the crate that he and Pantherlily were carrying together, causing Lily to nearly drop the other end. Gajeel then got right into Natsu's space. "You know, I don't really know why you have to be so noisy when you work? I'm not sure how those other morons put up with it all the time!"

Pantherlily, in confusion, looked up towards Happy who was flying around directing the three of them with their cargo. "Do you have any idea who started this?"

Happy shook his head. "No. I'm just hoping they cut it out before that Nigel guy comes back, or even worse Erza!"

Meanwhile Gray and Erza were conducting their lifting in a more peaceful manor, but took a short break to keep an eye on the others.

"Can we just make it through one job without Natsu getting angry at someone?" Gray asked. "He's acting like a damn child tonight."

Erza agreed but tried her hardest to not get angry. "Honestly, he is getting ridiculous. I hope he won't keep the rest of us from conduction our affairs in a professional manner. We certainly wouldn't want to leave Nigel or his fellow businessmen angry with our work."

* * *

As the afternoon turned to evening, each group was rounding down their assignments.

"Boy I'm tired." Lucy said while stretching. "How long have we been here?"

Wendy responded and noticed there was no clock inside the room. "I'm not sure, but I'm starting to get hungry." She frowned as her stomach began to growl.

Just then Nigel finally came back into the room and clapped his hands together. "Well so far everything looks good. What's say we take a break for today and we finish off with some dinner on my boat?"

"That sounds amazing!" They all responded in unison and followed Nigel onto his private party barge, accompanied by the other members of the group on the other side of the pier.

It was here that the guild would learn a great deal more about their wealthy host.

* * *

 **Chapter four next!**


	5. Chapter Four-Dinner and a Show

**Author's Note: Hey, here's Chapter four. Arguably the hardest chapter to write. Also, in real life Fairy Tail, Tartaros is getting _good_.**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Four - Dinner and a Show

* * *

As the members of Fairy Tail boarded the party barge they were left in shock and awe. The bright wood finish was pure white along the outside of the ship, and the deck planks were inlaid with a beautiful dark brown wood. The upper half of the ship was lifted off the main deck with two tall white pillars, which left a nice large open space on the main deck. Inside the main hull, there was a beautiful dining room table with twelve brown seats trimmed with gold. Behind the main seat there were two doors that entered into what appeared to be a large kitchen, and outside those doors (back inside the dining room) there were two spiral staircases that led to a room located on the upper deck.

It was here that the energetic Cana stumbled down from the upper deck and joined her fellow guild members. "Guys, you gotta go see the upper deck. There's a full bar up there with hundreds of bottles!" She yelled in excitement as she held one firmly in hand from only a moment before.

"Well, looks like you found your new home, Cana." Gray said in amusement as he shook his head. "Seriously though, this place is pretty sick."

"Hah, I suppose so." Nigel laughed as he gestured towards Cana. "It turns out she's a better drinking than I thought!" He then turned the group towards the table. "Why doesn't everyone take a seat while I get the rest of you something to drink?"

"Hang on, shouldn't you have like servants or something? Natsu asked with an impulsive assumption.

Nigel responded. "Well normally I do have a sailing crew for when we're out at sea, but as far as servants go I try not to get attached to anyone. I try to be more humble with my entertaining. I'll often do the serving and bar tending myself."

"Well, how very noble of you." Erza nodded. "I think we all should be able to enjoy a nice round of drinks after all."

As everyone took their seats, Lucy turned to Erza and commented on a certain 'elephant in the room.'

"Hey, is it just me, or do Natsu and Gajeel seem to be handling the boat pretty well?"

The red head scratched her chin and tried gathering the thought. "Hmm that is peculiar…"

Just then, however, Wendy interjected "Don't worry guys, I gave them some of my _Troia_ magic before we came on board. Gajeel hasn't built up a tolerance yet, and Natsu hasn't had to use it in a while so he should be fine.

Lucy sighed and nodded. "That's a relief. I was beginning to worry they'd puke all over the boat. We've all done so well so far, we can't leave on a bad night."

As they all sat and mingled, Nigel began by serving them all a glass of red wine marked with a golden label.

"You'll all love this stuff. I grabbed a few bottles while traveling through the Kingdom of Minstrel! Really sweat, without being too much to handle."

As he poured them all drinks, he also supplied each of them with a glass of water, in case they weren't in the mood to drink.

"If anyone would like something else to drink, let me know and I can see what I've got. I have the meal cooking now so it will be a while before we eat."

* * *

As the night went on they enjoyed the meal and the conversations. Each guild member regaled Nigel with tails of their travels, and likewise, Nigel would give them a few of his own stories.

"Hold up! You're saying you're actually a wizard too?" Natsu asked as he now figured something out. "Hah! I knew I smelled magic on you!"

Nigel replied with a tilt of his head. "Well it's rather complicated." He took a drink from his glass. "Although I'm not an official guild wizard or anything, and I don't practice a specific brand of magic...I suppose you could say I am a student of magic."

Lucy and the others were still happy to hear that. "That's incredible! What kind of spells do you practice?"

Nigel answered with caution. "Oh all sorts. While I spent time studying business in Crocus, I also took the hobby of studying individual runes and spells. As my company grew, and I grew more bored, I started learning more and more individual spells, spells that range all over the spectrum, from elemental and artifact, to combat and practical use."

Wendy too chimed off in excitement "That's amazing! Are you a powerful wizard?"

Nigel laughed and raised both hands immediately. "Oh no! I mean I don't think I could go out and take on an entire dark guild like you all have, but I could hold my own in a small fight."

Erza was intrigued, but noticed something about his explanation. "Hold on. You mentioned you don't align yourself with any particular element or practice; instead, you seem to just pick up random spells and learn their methods. How does that work?"

He was struggling to come up with an answer. "Well it can get pretty complicated to explain. As far as my combat skills go I try to stick with simple elemental spells like smaller fire and lightning spells, but I also practice a unique form of _fusion magic_."

He then gauged both the room and his alcohol intake, and realized her was feeling slightly more confident then he should have. "I imagine some of you are familiar with the concept of ' _unison raids_ '?"

The dinner crowd nodded their heads as their host carried on. "Well, the main concept of a unison raid isn't necessarily the combination of two wizards, or their channel of magical energy. Instead a lot of them are based on the _actual elements_ being combined within the spell. It's only after you use two wizards and two different magical channels that they can become really powerful. Despite this, it is actually possible for one individual to fuse elemental spells into single attacks."

Natsu spit out hit food, hitting Happy and Lucy on the cheeks. "No way, you're serious?!"

"Thanks, Natsu. I was really craving a second helping…" Lucy said with anger. Happy also looked angry as they both wiped food off their faces and continued listening to Nigel.

Nigel laughed and responded. "I'm completely serious. It's an ancient magical concept of fusing different elemental spells together to create large beams of energy that can be shot at a target. It's called _Prism Magic_."

Happy repeated that with curiosity. " _Prism Magic_?"

"Yep! When you fuse different spells and different amounts of elements you form what are called ' _Prism Beams_.' These _Prism Beams_ can then be shot like cannons of magical energy at the enemy, and each combination results in different beams and abilities."

Erza smiled as she began to understand the concept. "That sounds interesting. You've been able to revive an old method of fusion magic in an attempt to improve your own skill."

Nigel laughed and set his glass down. "I like to think so. In fact the reason they're called Prism Beams is because as you add spells to the equation, the beams become different shapes, forming large shapes that can be shot in beam form towards an opponent."

"That's awesome! I wanna see some of these things!" Natsu yelled in excitement as he finished off his meal and demanded a quick show.

Lucy responded to try and control her friend. "That does sound cool, but it might be better to wait until _after_ we're done eating before we ask him to show us."

* * *

As everyone finished their meals they each headed upstairs to the private bar and open balcony on the top floor, under a night's sky of several stars and lights hanging of the coats of Hargeon.

"Ok, so as you can see I can summon small, individual spells like so." Nigel then summoned two magic circles in each hand, one with the color red in his right, and a light blue one in his left. "When I hold them like this there will be a small yellow column that forms in the center of the circles. This essentially locks them into place."

He then raised his hands out in front of his chest and showed them off as the circles spawned a small yellow light in their center.

"Now, I can fuse them and aim them as one target." He then twisted his hands outward and launched what appeared to be a white light with red and blue ends flying towards the ocean. Just then the red circle became inflamed with a small, bright fire, while the blue end was shrouded in an weak, icy wind. When they hit the water they let out a small explosion that appeared to burn and freeze the targeted point at once.

"That's awesome!" Natsu yelled as he tried to sound encouraging. "You combined mine and Ice-boy's magic!"

"Hold on, didn't you say they were supposed to form a prism?" Gray asked as he noticed the two spells only formed a single line, not a full shape.

"I did, but in simple geometry, it takes a full polygon to create a prism." Nigel's humor was being taken over by the alcohol. "Can you form a polygon with less than three points?"

"Please don't ask them that." Lucy pleaded. "I would hate to see you base our guild's intelligence level on these two."

He laughed and accepted it as a dumb question. "Fine, the answer is no. So because of that, any combination of any two elemental spells will only form that sort of 'line segment' attack you just saw."

He turned back towards the sea. "If you want to form an 'actual prism beam', you have to stack elements and combine more spells."

The rookie wizard then ignited the original two magic circles from before in each hand, but before they spawned their yellow lights, Nigel then added one yellow circle to his right hand above the red one. After that, their columns grew. He then focused all the energy into his right index and middle fingers, and his left index finger, channeling all three spells into those three fingers.

After words, he then traced a triangle made of bright white light in the air in front of him. He then summoned an incantation.

"Three-sided Magic Prism: _Triangle!_ "

A large white triangular beam shot out of his hands and sailed towards the open sea. Not only was the beam of light brightly glowing white, it also had tints of red, blue and yellow. It also appeared to have flares of fire, ice, and lightning surrounding it points as it launched towards the sea. As it hit, it created a small explosion and flairs of the three elements shrouded the target area.

Natsu and Happy cheered together as they nearly jumped over the railing. "That was awesome! Do it again!"

Erza was impressed as well and gave their demonstrator a sign of approval. "Impressive. You were able to form a small unison attack from your own palms. How many elements can you combine into one of these single attacks?"

Nigel responded with a quick thought. "Well, because the prisms require the user to link a spell with a single finger while being traced out, in theory the highest you can go to is ten spells, with five elemental circles in each hand. Personally, I've only been able to combine _six spells_ into a spell known as the _Earth's Hexagon_."

Gajeel shouted out impatiently after hearing the remark. "Let's go ahead and see that one then!"

As the Fairy Tail members argued with one another, Nigel laughed and responded. "Okay."

Just then he turned back towards the sea and held his hands back in his original form. As he did that, he slowly created two circles in each hand. Like before, there was one red circle in his right hand, and a blue in his left.

As he sat there, the showman summoned two more magic circles on top of the first two, a bright white circle stacked in his right, and a dark yellow in his left. Finally, he added two more circles to the equation, one to each hand. This time he added a dark purple circle to his right hand, and a mint green circle to his left. As he waited, each hand then spawned their respective yellow columns in the center of the circles, which then locked them into place.

Then, he took his three fore fingers in each of his hands and traced out a bright white hexagon in front of him, this time much larger than the previous triangle. He then removed his hands, place his right hand in the center of the shape and yelled out his incantation.

"Six-sided Magic Prism: _Earth's Hexagon_!"

Then, when he removed his hand, a large hexagon-shaped column of white light soared towards the sea. It traveled much faster than the previous prism and it was tinted in a combination of the six original colors used to spawn it. As it landed, a large cloud of light and water shot up, creating a large explosion while also creating several flairs of each element. They appeared to be fire, water, light, rock, shadow and wind.

Everyone cheered, and Natsu was the first to yell out in response. "That was awesome! I need to learn me a few of these Prism Spells!"

Nigel turned to everyone and laughed. "Yea, I've made it bigger in the past, but I never practice that much."

Lucy replied with enthusiasm just like Natsu. "Well yea I bet you probably never get to use them that much being outside of a guild."

Nigel agreed and nodded. "Yea, I never really do find myself in many magical battles. I don't really consider myself a powerful wizard, but I guess it takes some skill to be able to learn all these individual spells."

Erza responded after observing the whole scene. "That may be true, but either way it's clear you poses a large degree of magical intelligence."

Natsu agreed and patted him on the shoulder. "No kidding! and hey if ya let me work with ya on those fire spells you might be able to make 'em even bigger!"

Gray stepped in and waved Natsu off. "Hold on, I think I've got some cool Icicle spells that would work really well for ya."

Lucy stopped them both and grabbed them by the arms. "Hold on guys, he's not asking for any tutors!"

Meanwhile, Erza had summoned a nice shiny sword and began polishing it off for a demonstration. "Precisely Lucy...but before we head inside allow me to show him a few unique spells for a new variation of fusions."

"You're blowin' smoke, woman!" Gajeel stepped up with a fist full of iron. "I'll show the guy my magic and actually give him something useful!"

Nigel stopped them all and smiled. "No wait! I'd love to sit down with each of you eventually to see if you can teach me a spell or two! I love trying to make combinations with new magic, and I could always use some advice from properly trained wizards, hehe..."

Everyone agreed, and before anyone began with another demonstration Cana stepped up and held a bottle in the air. "Yea, that sounds like a plan for another day. For now what's say we take this party inside and continue our party on the main floor!"

Nigel agreed and turned them all away from the railing and back inside the bar room. "Sounds like a plan! I'd love to hear more about your individual campaigns through the _Grand Magic Games_."

* * *

 **Writing a new form of magic was a little uncomfortable for me...Not only do I have to try and make it sound appealing to the audience, it has to be easy to follow without sounding ridiculous or OP.**

 **I'd just like to stress that Nigel knows a lot, but he is not a super star wizard...maybe he'd be in the top 30% or 40% of Fairy Tail? I don't know...Anyway, I thought it sounded good enough, and in the end it's a rather unique form of magic (without being some variation of Dragon Slaying Magic...hehe.)**

 **#5 next!**


	6. Chapter Five-Fun with the Guild

**Author's Note: Chapter Five! This may be the longest chapter in the story...Idk exactly. It was fun because I got to use more characters from the guild.**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Five - Fun with the Guild

* * *

The next day, the members of Team Natsu and the other guild mates began to head back to Magnolia. It would appear that Nigel ran out of tasks for them to complete, and told them he would seek their help later that week.

"Man that Nigel turned out to be pretty cool! I hope he takes our invitation and shows up for the Guild pool party later this week. I wanna show him my Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted out with excitement at the thought of being able to work with Nigel and teach him some new spells.

"I'm sure he'll consider it." Responded Gray. "Although, its kinda funny Cana chose to stay back with him for another day."

"Yes, it appears they hit it off quite nicely." Carla commented with a raised eyebrow. "I hope she knows what she's getting herself into."

Lucy interrupted without letting the judgement go any further. "I'm sure they'll have a great time. After all they both seem to enjoy drinking, so they do have that in common. What's even better is the reward we're set to have after we finish up!"

Gajeel commented on that note. "Yea, but I'm kinda pissed off that he couldn't just go ahead and give us part of the money now. That was some load of work yesterday!"

"Indeed." Erza replied. "But there's no reason to be angry. Nigel appears to be true to his word. Besides he was nice enough to give us dinner and a place to sleep."

"No kidding! Wendy chimed in with a quick reply. "Those bunk houses actually turned out to be pretty nice, and we each got our own bed!"

Natsu agreed in relief after his stomach started getting upset."Yea I'm just glad they were on the dock and not on that boat!" After a while I could feel my Troia spell wearing off."

Eventually, they all made it back to Magnolia and headed in to the guild and their homes for a relaxing evening after a long morning's travel.

* * *

When they finally woke up, the entire guild began to fill with excitement as they prepared for their last pool party of the summer.

"Finally, we get to have a guild-wide pool party, _without_ having to worry about everyone being out on jobs!"

Lucy spoke openly with relief as she just left her bathroom from changing into her white and pink swimsuit. She headed towards the door with Natsu in his fiery red swim trunks, and Happy sporting a new pair of green trunks and a new green swim cap following right behind her.

"No kidding!" Natsu agreed as he held a bag of chips from her kitchen in his hands. "I've been looking forward to this ever since Mira suggested it. I hear Gildarts may even show up! That Ol' Geezer hasn't been around since we left for the Grand Magic Games!"

"Yea, I can't wait to show off my new swim cap!" Happy shouted in excitement as he gave his head a quick glance in the mirror heading out the door. "Carla's gonna love it! I just know she will!"

As they made it to the guild, the group of three noticed the back yard was buzzing with energy, but there weren't many people in the pool.

Confused, Lucy looked to Levy, Jet, and Droy, who were floating around in the pool wearing their normal swim attire. "Hey guys, why is everyone over at the bar and not in the water?"

"Oh it's because that Nigel guy decided to come by for a visit!" Levy gave Lucy a smile and pointed over towards the end of the pool "I wanted to see him, but it got kinda crowded. So the three of us just decided to jump in."

"Yea, he seems to be the real deal." Jet added on as he laid back in a float and relieved a breath of air.

"Yea, I guess him and Cana have been spending the past few days together. Maybe she'll talk him into donating money to the guild!" Droy suggested as he took a sip from a topical drink. "We can always use the cash whenever we break things around the hall!

"That would be amazing!" Lucy added on. "but we can't expect him to fork over all his money to some wizard guild he just met." She turned to address Natsu, but he wasn't standing there anymore.

"Natsu?" She said in confusion as she tried looking for her missing friend.

"Lucy jump in! The water's amazing!" Happy suggested as he was now enjoying the water inside a yellow swimming tube.

"Um...yea, why not?" She shouted and ignored her previous thought as she jumped in to join her guild mates.

Meanwhile, Natsu began to make his way towards the bar, but stopped to talk with Gray and Juvia on the outside of the huddle. Gray was wearing black swim trunks, while Juvia wore her regular purple and white swimsuit.

"Hey guys what's the deal here? The pool's that way!" He yelled as he pointed to the water. "I came to have a party not stare at a crowd of people!"

"Calm down Natsu, everyone is just trying to meet Nigel. After all he did just get here." Gray explained the situation while also trying to calm Natsu down.

"So he decided to show up, huh? Hehe, look at these vultures trying to act all friendly to see him. They probably just want a loan!" Natsu said while laughing as he collected the scene altogether.

"I'm not sure, but it appears that he's quit the social fellow." Juvia commented with a serious smile before losing her mind and grabbing a hold of Gray's arm. "At least that's what my hunk, Gray told me! Isn't it, my love?"

"Yea, sure." He made no effort to seriously reply. "Anyway it looks like he's really hitting it off with everyone."

Natsu peaked over the crowd. "Huh, no kidding! Good for us I guess. Landing a rich donor like that means more money for us!"

Inside the huddled mass at the bar, Nigel, who was dressed in a white button up shirt and dark blue swim shorts, appeared to be entertaining a crowd that consisted of a large portion of the guild. This included the regular bar hawks Makarov, Mirajane, Kinana, Macao, Wakaba, and Cana, along with several other faces including Erza, Laxus, Freed, Gajeel, Lily and Lisanna (who all seemed to be wearing their usual swim attire as well.)

While sitting at the bar, the resident guest appeared to have a projection similar to that of _Archive Magic_ out in view for his hosts. This projection, however, seemed to be a map of sorts, and he had them all focus in on regions around the continent of Ishgar.

"So basically when you get all the way over here it's pretty much just sheets of ice. Not the best place to travel. As a result we have to claim ports along these coasts in order to spread out our businesses, without having to rely on that icy sea shelf."

They all seemed amused and intrigued. Following his presentation, Erza responded. "So what exactly do those regions have to offer for Fiore? I was under the impression this kingdom had a large amount of our own valuable resources."

He explained in his reply. "Well it's pretty much just supply and demand at this point. Certain clients and businessmen want different materials or goods, so we have to be open to shipping out units all over the continent."

Freed made a comment on the explanation. "So are these gentlemen really that greedy with their demands?"

Nigel laughed and grabbed his drink. "To be completely honest most of them are asses. But for the most part we have to cooperate with whoever it is just to shut them up. We sorta have a monopoly on the continent's shipping, so it not like they have any other large spread options."

Makarov scratched his chin. "Impressive. You truly seem to have a complete grip on the world's trading economy. I'm glad you decided to open up shop so close to Magnolia. With your expansion into Hargeon I imagine the region will begin to experience some growth over the next few years?"

Nigel replied with a smile. "That's what I'm hoping for. When I first moved to Fiore I got one of my first dock working jobs down at Hargeon. That's what led me to traveling up north to begin business training at Acalypha. I have a lot of connections in this region of the kingdom and I was hoping to begin some growth."

He smiled faintly as he took a sip from his drink. "Not to mention my love for you all. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for _Fairy Tail_ in those Grand Magic Games."

Makarov smiled with satisfaction. "Well we're glad we could make you a fan of our work. You appear to be quite the magician yourself."

"Yea, he knows all kinds of different spells." Cana said as she sat on the bar stool right beside him in a bright red swimsuit. "I lost count after the first 30 he told us."

Gajeel interjected. "Yea you shoulda seen some of his spells the other night! The guy knows how to use fusion magic."

Laxus Dreyar looked amused as he sat on the corner of the group. " _Ooh_ , you don't say? Well lets here an explanation."

Nigel began to explain the concept of fusion spells and _Prism Magic_ to the group. Everyone seemed to enjoy the conversation, and eventually lost track of time. Over the course of the afternoon everyone at the party was starting to enjoy themselves with food, drinks, music, and the fun at the pool.

It was here that Lucy headed into the guild hall for a break in the action.

"Man. Why can't they just fix the bathrooms outside? We just got all that new money and everything..." She complained to herself as she exited the restrooms and entered the main hall. The blonde began to head back outside when she noticed Nigel and Mira were also inside looking through the cabinets in the indoor bar. They appeared to be gathering more bottles for the guests outside.

"Jeeze, Mira. You realize how long some of these bottles have been aging for? These could be worth a fortune!" Nigel exclaimed as he read the labels on two bottles in each hand.

"Well Nigel, as you can see our guild master is quite the fan of drinking and celebrating. It only makes sense that he would keep a prime collection in storage." Mira held in a giggle, but enjoyed seeing Nigel's enthusiasm none the less.

"Yea I guess so…Cana mentioned you all enjoy your drinking but my god, I think I've died and gone to heaven!" He took the bottles and shut the cabinet doors behind him.

"Haha, Well coming from any visitor that's quite the compliment! I'll go ahead and bring these ones outside. You can keep browsing if you'd like." She took his selections and left for the other outside door.

Lucy laughed from the other side of the bar and yelled over to the lone Nigel. "Well I see you've made yourself right at home!"

Nigel looked over and smiled back once he noticed who it was. "Lucy! It's good to see you again. I didn't notice you were there." He waited until she made it over to the bar to finish. "Are they always this chatty?" He asked while laughing as they could both hear the ruckus outside.

Lucy smiled and looked amused but embarrassed. "Well let's just say they're a very _animated_ bunch. Hey Nigel can I ask you a question?"

Nigel grinned and gave her his attention. "Sure, but let me guess...It's about your father isn't it?"

She nodded. "I was just wondering what he was like over those seven years? Since I never got to see him I've always been curious...I-I heard a few things back before the Games started, but I'm not sure what all was truth and what all wasn't."

Nigel grabbed the last few bottles and walked with Lucy toward the door. "You're father was practically my mentor. Sure at times he came off rather serious and a little hard to read, but after we got to know each other he really helped me learn the practicalities of business."

She smiled, while he continued. "He was also very caring when it came to you and you mother. He had pictures of you guys all over his office, and I even found out he kept trying to pay your rent here in Magnolia as each year passed."

She beamed with relief and replied. "Yea I knew he did that. It's nice to know he kept busy over those years."

Nigel smiled and opened the door to the outside. "Well Lucy I'm glad I could help. It's nice to finally meet you, and this group of goofy wizards!"

As they exited the building, the group from the bar yelled over to get his attention. "Hey Nigel! Get over Here!"

As he dragged himself towards the bar, he looked back towards Lucy with a confused look on his face. She looked to see who it was that was new to the group, and followed with a laugh and quickly responded.

"Be extra careful!" She explained as the now confused business man was quickly being led to mystery.

Over near the bar, a new face entered the fray. Sitting next to Laxus and Master Makerov was none other than _Fairy Tail_ 's Ace, and Cana's father, _Gildarts Clive_ , who had just joined the party (but wasn't wearing a swimsuit.)

"Hey Dad!" Cana tried shouting out. "Nigel's here! He's our new rich friend from _Hargeon_!"

Makarov sat up and reminded himself of the new addition. "Oh that is right! Erh, Nigel this is..."

"…Gildarts Clive." Nigel finished his sentence for him, and smiled as he stuck out his hand. "I've heard that name more than once in my life."

Gildarts looked to Nigel with a serious expression on his face, and never took the hand shake. "Oh so I hear you're the one pumping drinks into my daughter the other night?"

Nigel was nearly left in fear, but stayed quick in his response. "We unless you count the one's she fed herself, then yea that might be me."

Gildarts stood up, and immediately hugged Nigel while laughing. "Well I'll be! Glad to meet ya! Happy to see the guild was able to bring in such a famous drinker!"

"Well my reputation is wide spread, but I guess my social life is as well." Nigel laughed as he was being let go. "When you deal with boats you're bound to own a nice one with a bar on it."

"We'll let's sit down and continue talking about that magic of yours." Gildarts directed Nigel to his original seat at the bar. "These guys tell me it's quite the trick! Maybe you'll even know a Crash spell or two!"

* * *

As the day wound down everyone seemed to slowly leave the guild hall and pool, with the exception of members from Team Natsu, along with Mirajane and Lisanna. They were all sitting at the inside bar of the guild hall as the Strauss sisters began cleaning up the inside mess left over from the festivities.

"Boy that party was something else! Why don't we do that more often?" Natsu made a case to his fellow guild mates as the others sat around him.

Mira was the first to answer. "Well it's really hard to organize something like that with everyone going off on their own jobs. People have really gotten busy since we've won the Games."

"Yea not to mention guys like Gildarts and Laxus sticking around for everyone to see is pretty rare. It was great that they showed up in the end." Lisanna added on after realizing the full guild was in attendance today.

"Yea we had the whole gang here!" Natsu pointed out as well. "Not to mention Nigel even stopped by to see everyone."

"Yea. Can you believe him and Cana are still hanging out?" Happy asked as he began to chuckle." It's kinda' funny if you ask me. They ran right off to Hargeon the moment the party ended!"

"I don't know if it's really that big of a deal." Lucy point out. "They're both just very lively, not to mention they both love to drink...a lot."

"I don't know…she did introduce him to her father." Erza suggested. "That has to follow some form of relationship protocol doesn't it?"

"Actually, I think the master did that..." Lucy pondered with discomfort, but then laughed it off as Erza was all ready off in her own thoughts.

Wendy interjected. "Either way, I'm just glad he gets along with everyone! He's been really friendly so far!"

Gray added on while finishing his drink. "Yea and maybe he'll give us more money as a bonus if we keep inviting him to our guild parties! The dude's probably looking to donate to the guild since he loves us so freakin much."

They laughed at that honest remark and quickly ended their conversation. Eventually the whole gang left for the night, and began packing their things for the next day, where they would begin another rewarding shift at the docks of Hargeon.

* * *

Meanwhile, later that night on the outer docks of Port Hargeon…

"Just go grab those ropes and undo all those mooring lines. We gotta get these ships outta here!"

"Yea the boss was pretty specific. He demanded one of these fancy new ships for his experiments."

"You think we could sail one of these things all the way to Oasis? I bet we'll make it no problem!"

"Are you kidding me? These things are built to sail half way around the world! We can take a few of them if he wants!"

"Don't get too cocky, we don't have a ton of men here. We still need to sail the damn things which takes a lot of guys on deck. Just grab those ships at the edge of the docks and sail 'em down south."

"Man we sure did luck out, there's no one here!"

"Keep your damn voice down! As far as everyone else is concerned we're simple dock workers! We're just lucky this dock's is brand new. Keep going and we'll be outta here within the hour."

* * *

 **Uh-oh...there's suspicious activity afoot!**

 **From this point on, this is where the story starts to turn into your typical _Fairy Tail_ story arc. Chapters Six next.**


	7. Chapter Six-The Irrational Decision

**Author's Note: Hey, here's chapter 6. It's later in the day then I've usually been posting, but I still go it up! Hope you enjoy it! (PS:Fairy Tail Manga chapter 452 came out today...WOW its getting real.)**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Six - The Irrational Decision

* * *

As the day after the guild pool party finally arrived Natsu and the gang began their second journey for Hargeon. However when they arrived they were greeted by a very bizarre sight. All throughout the port, Magic council officials and Rune Knights were dotting the streets and piers, making it particularly hard to walk through no matter where you were inside the town.

Natsu commented with confusion as he quickly realized something was up. "Man, What's goin' on here? This place looks even more packed than before!"

Lucy agreed in concern. "Yea, this is really strange. I hope everyone is alright."

Erza continued with that thought. "Whatever it is, I'm sure Nigel or Cana will be able to help explain. Let's make our way towards the dock and see if come a crossed somebody who can answer our questions."

As they made their way to the pier, they came across a large group of officials storming on and off Nigel's main barge. Just outside the ramp, they also noticed a small group engaged in a serious discussion, and Cana was standing there looking rather confused on the outer circle of people.

"Hey Cana!" Lucy yelled out to catch the attention of the lone _Card Mage_ standing out side of the huddled mass. "I'm glad to see you'e alright!"

Cana smiled faintly and held a bag of ice firmly over her bed. When she heard a familiar voice, the drinker quickly walked over to greet her friends. "Boy...I sure am glad to see you guys, hehe. Nigel and I stayed out touring Haregon...then some really intense stuff just went down last night."

"What exactly happened?" Carla the Exceed demanded lightly. "It looks rather serious."

The brown haired wizard explained the situation to her guild mates with the best of her knowledge and ability. "Well apparently some group of idiots decided to high jack some of Nigel's company ships. Little did they know they were actually prototypes that were property of the Magic Council, and now people are trying to find a motive."

"Yikes!" Lucy said in shock. "That does sound serious!"

"Yea, it is. Nigel's not really sure what to do. He said he's recently had some beef with the Magic Council, and this apparently won't help things." Cana then turned to look at the large group of Rune nights right behind her.

Gray looked on with a serious expression. "Jeeze. I hope us being here isn't an issue. We don't need Fairy Tail getting blamed for more of the Magic Council's mishaps."

"Hold on, we came all the way here!" Yelled Gajeel with slight aggravation. "I'm at least getting paid!"

"Calm down." Erza commanded. "I'm sure Nigel will be able to explain this whole thing if we find him." She left her group and walked towards the small discussion in front of them.

Inside the huddle were several higher ups, including Chief Marshall Lahar of the Rune Knights. Nigel stood with them in complete anger as he tried finding some answers.

"You're telling me I'm responsible?! The Magic Council members are the ones that _supplied_ those dock workers! _They_ were the ones that failed to do their job!"

"Calm down, Nigel." Lahar stated. "I'm not the one accusing you of any wrong doings. You know as well as I do that the higher ups are sending these messages."

Nigel sighed with little relief. "Yea I guess so. Either way we both know who was responsible for the theft of these ships, and I sure as hell will not be the one to remind those morons in the Council of what we need to do!"

Just then, he noticed that Erza and the other Fairy Tail wizards had arrived.

"Erza! I'm glad you guys could show up...I'm terribly sorry about this whole situation. I tried to contact the guild before you left, but it seems that communication isn't the best these days."

She laughed and gave him slight comfort. "No worries, Nigel, you seem to have more important matters to deal with. The others and I can head back to the guild if you'd like?"

"Wait!" He exclaimed to keep her from leaving. "This might actually be the perfect opportunity to discuss my more _important matters_ with the group. Have everyone meet me in my office at _Building 1A_. Lahar and I will be waiting for you."

She agreed, and later the group convened in the primary port office building.

* * *

"So what's the deal?" Natsu asked impatiently. "Cause from the looks of all these Magic Council guys hangin' around here I'd say things are pretty bad."

Nigel agreed, sitting at his desk with little ease. "Yea, things are pretty miserable on our front." He sat back and explained as he poured himself a glass to drink.

"Last night it would appear that three of our newly designed steam ships for the Magic Council suddenly sailed out of port at roughly 3:00 am. Not only were they the most highly advanced ships we have ever designed, but they were also very expensive to engineer, and they're still only prototypes. They were on stop here in Hargeon, and slowly making their way to the closest ports of ERA for their final testing."

He then sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose. "However, it _seems_ the Magic Council won't be getting them…because they were high jacked."

The room went silent, and Lucy was the first to respond. "Nigel, that's awful!"

"Yea, it is." He obviously agreed with her. "The thing is these were brand new state of the art designs, so the fact that these men were able to sail them out so easily is really troubling."

Erza stepped up next. "Indeed. That is rather troubling. If the wrong people were to get a hold of those ships..."

Gray joined in on the conversation before she could finish. "So what, no one was able to chase them out of port? Sounds like a pretty lousy group of guards to me."

Lahar responded to that comment. "By the time anyone was alerted, they were already too far south. They appear to be heading for the Southern Isles, which is the worst part of our situation."

"What's bad about that?" Wendy asked.

Nigel and Lahar looked at each other, and the former decided to answer. "That's what we brought you all in here for." He then sat up and continued with sarcasm. "There seems to be a 'little crime ring' that's presently active in the Southern Isles."

The guild members looked shocked, and Lucy responded. "What sort of crime ring are talking about here?"

Lahar answered with a serious expression. "The worst kind imaginable. The center island is full of thieves, murders, slave traders and dark wizards. At least, that's what we've been able to gather from our intelligence."

Gajeel looked angry to hear that excuse. "Hang on, you're sayin' you all knew about these guys and no one acted on it?"

Nigel interjected. "Yes! As a matter of fact, that's exactly what he's saying! What's even worse is that the two of us have tried tirelessly to convince the Magic Council of their behavior, but we're the only ones who seem to be concerned..."

Wendy looked down with fear. "That's horrible. Is anyone going to do anything?"

Nigel responded. "It isn't that simple. When Lahar explained the situation, he did so on light terms...These are _world famous criminals_. _Thieves_ that steal large military shipments and weapons all throughout the world, _murderers_ that conduct deadly forms of dark martial arts, _slave traders_ that are responsible for some of the worst human trafficking acts known to man, and some of the world's worst _dark mages_ , mages that are rumored to practice forgotten magic.'"

Erza retorted. "How large is their base of operations?"

Nigel looked up from his drink. "Quite large. Imagine an entire collection of five or so underground cities linked by several tunnels that operate under a large artificial lake made of metal, and is surrounded by scorching hot desert wastelands. Then, beneath the floor of the metal lake, there are extremely large factories and weapons facilities. To top it off, those desert wastelands attract more criminals that try to gain access into the grounds, but fail to do so by lack of funds. So instead they set up shop in rundown villages scattered throughout the desert perimeter. It's like a scene straight out of an apocalyptic film. They call it _Oasis."_

Lucy responded in fear. "Oasis?"

Lahar acknowledged her. "Yes, Oasis. As Nigel said, it appears to be a large artificial lake lined with a metal border that hosts hundreds of crime centers underneath its waters. Outside the metal grounds there is a small desert wasteland made of sand and rock that attracts even more dangerous criminals trying to seek entrance into the facility."

Happy interjected. "Sounds like a gigantic swimming pool carved out of a desert if ya ask me!"

Nigel replied with the first grin of the meeting. "Actually…that's not a bad way to picture it."

"Hang on, why do these guys operate in a giant desert?" Gray asked. "This place sounds horrible to live in. You're either underground or stuck under the sun."

"That's the ridiculous part!" Nigel yelled out as Lahar continued.

"…They decided to establish their crime ring on an old testing ground for the Magic Council's weaponry."

Erza interjected. "So these testing grounds use to host as a bombing site for weapons like the _Etherion Cannon_?"

"Yes." Lahar answered bluntly. "However, over the recent years these criminals have flocked there in order to hide from our surveillance systems. The water in the lake acts like a giant blanket that keeps our signals from detecting virtually everything underground. They assumed we would just abandon the site's preservation altogether."

"It sounds like you did just that." Pantherlily added on. "Why survey their movements if you never planned on making any actions?"

Nigel jumped in to field the answer. "Because the stooges in the Magic Council will never be 100% okay with infiltrating their territory."

"Why is that?" Erza lightly demanded

Lahar took a pause before coming clean. "…Because our recent surveys show us that they are now concealing large _Lacrima Crystals_ underneath the lake, and these crystals are most likely highly explosive. Before, the water in the lake kept our surveillance teams from detecting any traces of energy, but recently we have been able to discover several large Lacrima generators and crystals that can easily be primed for wide scale detonation."

"Oh my…" Carla looked in awe. "Well what on earth do you plan to do?"

"It's simple." Nigel interrupted Lahar's answer. He now had an empty glass and handled the full bottle of wine. "Instead of bringing in a large army to storm them like a bunch of mad men, we simply infiltrate the grounds with a small recon team to begin our operations, and size up the scene."

Lahar stopped him right there. "It would be simple if we had a team to dispatch, but…"

Just then, Lahar was interrupted again, only this time it was Natsu who held up a flaming fist.

"But nothing! We gotta stop these guys before they do something nuts! And _we're_ gonna be the ones to stop 'em!"

Happy yelled in response right in line with his fiery friend. "Aye Sir! We'll show 'em who's boss!"

All the _Fairy Tail_ members looked ready to fight then and there, which left Lahar confused, and Nigel entertained.

"That's exactly the kind of spirit I wanted to see!" Nigel raised his bottle and pointed it at Lahar. "..and I think I'm gonna be the one to join 'em!"

* * *

At that moment, our Fairy Tail friends didn't realize the "high-jackers" from before had just landed inside of Oasis borders. Just as that occurred, a meeting began inside one of the large towers that overlooked the large metal lake. Very little towered over the sandy fields, metal edges, and crystal water down below, but some of the richer guests of Oasis were actually able to own residences that stood over the facility.

The meeting chamber was largely made of a chrome, metal finish, with a full sized window and large red rug, along with four men who sat at the large silver table at the center of the room.

At that moment, a small, round and timid man in a black suit addressed the lead man at the head of the table. "Master Calvin, you'll be pleased to hear that our smugglers got their hands on three Fiore ships, and have just landed in our waters!"

To respond, the so called Master Calvin simply ignored the man's update, and remained silent. He was a rather shrewd man with a muscular figure and a stern appearance. He had short, black hair with sides that faded into white, and he wore a white tailor made suit with a black shirt and a red tie.

Despite this silence, another man sitting at the table responded in his place. He wasn't tall, but was rather round. His hair was short and trim and was the color of wheat, and he wore a satisfied grin on his face, along with a nice black suit with a white shirt and a matching green tie and pocket square.

He grabbed the cigar that was hanging out of his mouth and replied. "Spare us the useless updates Milo, we don't need any more constant chatting every time a damn ship comes into port. Besides those smugglers will know what to do when they get, even if we don't hold their hands on the way in."

He smiled at his own remark and kicked two feet up onto the table. "I just hope the engineers are ready to update those ships with our new weaponry. I'm sure you'll be the one to cover that, Ferris? Or will you be playing in that new office of yours? Sniffing metal or what ever it is you do in there."

It was here that the rude looking man with the green tie addressed his question to the last person sitting at the table. He was a very tall being with a heavily muscular build, a silver military hair cut, and he wore grey pants and a think black sweater. He also had piercing red eyes, and his left eye had a scar over it that cut just under the lower eyelid.

He spoke in a low, monotone voice, totally ignoring the rude remark made at the end. "Calm yourself, Greenmonte. My tecs and engineers will be working around the clock to get us those new ships..." He then took a pause form the moment and tapped his fist against the chrome table. He scratched the surface with a fingernail, and brought it up to his nose.

Greenmonte rolled his eyes and responded in amusement. "Whatever...I suppose that's why we call you _the Architect_ , but lets keep the metal obsession in the labs!"

Greenmonte then directed himself to the head of the table once again. "I just hope the new fleet fits the requirements of that little loose-cannon you call a son, Calvin?"

Mr. Calvin turned towards Greenmonte. "I'm sure they'll do nicely…tell me Milo, did you send our new 'recruits' from Fiore to the Lacryma chambers to begin their work?"

Milo responded in excitement. "Oh yes sir! They'll be working non-stop around the clock, as long as their little bones can handle it. I'm just glad those high jackers could scrap them up from that Hargeon dock and into our hands!" He laughed in amusement as the others tried ignoring him.

Greenemonte shook his head and fiddled with his cigar and an ash tray. "Damn it Milo, I'm not sure what kind of twisted things you think of all day, but the rest of us don't want to be reminded of what goes on down there...Some of us are trying to clean this place up. In fact, thanks to Ferris here this new chamber is looking rather spiffy." He looked around in amusement, and even scratched the table just like Ferris did.

"It doesn't matter." Mr. Calvin interjected. "By the time we're fully primed, we can commence our true operation and take the continent of Ishgar once and for all."

* * *

 **FAIRY TAIL preps for offense, and the villains are released (and they're all " _weirdos_ ", but when is that different from any other _FT_ villain?)! Chapter seven should also be up today!**


	8. Chapter Seven-Fairy Tail Preps for War!

**Author's note: Chapter 7! The team is going through last minute preparations...and Makarov is having a one-on-one meeting with the newbie Nigel?**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Seven - Fairy Tail Preps for War!

* * *

Later that week, following the meeting in Hargeon, Lucy, Cana, Gray and Happy sat outside of the Master's office door inside the upper guild hall. They tried to remain quiet as the now full office only held room for a few people, which kept them out side to wait patiently on their comrades' decision.

"What do you think he's gonna say?" Asked little Happy with two nervous paws holding onto his tail.

"I'm not sure, but either way we have to be ready for it." Lucy explained thoroughly. "If Nigel tells Master what he told us about Oasis, than he may keep us from going...Master hates putting us in danger, but this sounds pretty important for everyone."

Cana added to that thought. "Yea, that place sounded pretty dangerous…but still the mission seems like it's probably worth it."

"I'm down with any kinda raid." Said a confident Gray. "These creeps sound like they're askin' for some pain."

 _~Meanwhile, on the other side of the door._

Inside the office, Makarov, his grandson Laxus, Erza, Natsu and Nigel sat in discussion and debated oven the plans to attack Oasis.

"Look, sir I can personally vouch for this mission as a job request in my name." Nigel argued with the Guild Master and did his best to sway his decision. "It would even give the guild better credibility with the Council when they finish it!"

"Tsk." Laxus held in a laugh and shook his head in amusement. "I don't know, Geezer. These guys sound like they won't take no for an answer." . Although he felt the mission seemed rather reckless, he also approved of the groups determination to go forward. "If it were me I'd let them go."

Makarov sat in his chair, content with every argument made so far. "Hmm, is that so? I don't suppose you'd be willing to join them on this mission, Laxus?"

"HAH!" Laxus laughed and stood from the side of the desk. "No way in Hell! I'm not that crazy. Besides, me and the _Thunder Legion_ already have a new job picked out, so it'd be rather inconvenient for us to join in."

Natsu yelled with rage as he figured Laxus was only there to mock the cause. "Oh yea, Laxus! What makes your job more important than ours?!" He now stood eye to eye with the Lightning Dragon Slayer.

Laxus squinted his eyes as small static lightning began to float all around him. He then calmed his mind before responding to Natsu. "Ya know, I'm gonna pretend you didn't ask that, and I suggest you do too."

Natsu growled as Laxus passed over his shoulder and exited the room.

This finally left Erza to began making her argument. "Master, I understand your concern, but if we were able to bring enough people I'm sure we could conduct our efforts safely."

Nigel agreed. "Exactly! And the Magic Council's Rune Knights have finally agreed to begin their infiltration, so they'll be right with us every step of the way."

Makarov finally broke his small silence. "Okay…I suppose I can allow a group to accompany you to Oasis."

They all three cheered in excitement, and Lucy, Gray, Cana, and Happy all entered the room after hearing Makarov's blessing.

However, Makarov wasn't done, and added a few extra thoughts with a serious expression. "But you must ALL be very careful...I've heard rumors of this place, and they're not for the faint of heart." He sighed with discomfort filling his brain. "In the mean time I would like to meet with you later in private, Nigel. We need to discuss your earlier concern."

Nigel nodded, while Natsu replied. "Don't Worry, Gramps! We've got this under control!"

Nigel laughed in agreement. "Besides, I agreed to finance the operations, so you know I'm 100% in."

"I'm glad you're all ready to defend this nation's peace, but please be careful! I would hate to lose one of you so far away from home." The Master dismissed them after this note.

As they wrapped up their conversation, the group of guild members followed Nigel out to the hall. He then began to lay out his plan for the operation.

"Okay, Cana can you please get this list to that Warren guy for me? It shows everyone that the Magic Council and I have requested for the mission, and I'll need him to get a hold of everyone just in case."

Just then, Natsu snatched the letter from their hands. "Hold on, I wanna see who all made the cut!"

He and his fellow guild mates began to scan the paper. Written down (in no particular order) were these names:

 **Natsu Dragneel**

 **Erza Scarlet**

 **Lucy Heartfilia**

 **Gray Fullbuster**

 **Cana Alberona**

 **Gajeel Redfox**

 **Wendy Marvell**

 **Warren Rocko**

 **Max Alors**

 **Levy McGarden**

 **Happy, Carla, & Pantherlily**

They all 'ooed' and 'ahhed', and finally Natsu shouted in rejoice. "Looks pretty good to me! Although I think I'd be able to handle it all myself!" He laughed and tried lightening the situation with a joke.

Lucy smiled but put a hand on his shoulder. "Just be thankful you don't have to go alone. It sounds like this place is pretty creepy!"

Happy agreed. "Aye, but that's not gonna stop Natsu!"

Erza pondered for a moment. "Still, it's rather interesting that I'm the only _S-Class_ mage on the list. I wonder why that is?"

"Cause the others didn't fit the bill." Nigel explained. "Mirajane's too busy handling the bar, and Laxus and Gildarts already had other jobs. I heard Gildarts' job was pretty big too."

Cana laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yea, don't let him fool ya'. He usually spends all his missions exploring and drinking." She then pondered with additional concern for Erza's observation. "Still, It'd probably be better if we had some higher offense for this mission."

Erza agreed. "Yes. It would certainly help if we found ourselves split up into smaller groups. I have confidence we're okay as we stand, but the more physical fighters we have, the better."

"Yea" Lucy said softly. "If only Jellal could fake being _Mystogan_ again…"

Nigel turned to hear that though, and looked rather intrigued to hear it. "Yea…where is that guy, anyway?"

Natsu laughed. "Who, Jellal? Oh he was just pretending to be our guild mate during the Games. He's actually a…" Just then Lucy and Happy grabbed Natsu and tried to silence his words.

Nigel laughed, but kept his puzzled expression solidified. "Hehe, interesting…"

As the group left the guild for the evening, they each went home and began packing their bags for the extensive trip ahead of them. Meanwhile, Lucy was having a particularly hard time deciding what to bring.

She began to walk along the side of the river with her little celestial spirit friend, Plue, and as they walked along the river they ignored the cries from the usual gondola driver who floats by her apartment now and then.

"Watch out Lucy! You're gonna fall in!"

She kindly ignored him and kept up her conversation with Plue.

"Okay, Plue, Nigel told us we may be gone for a _whole_ month. So we gotta pack smart!" She stayed cheery for her little celestial friend as they walked along the river.

He responded in joy. "Puun! Puu-Puun!"

Lucy softly smiled, but then looked serious. "Still, this is gonna be a rough mission. I hope we all make it out okay." She then turned and smiled to her little friend once again. "No worries though! At least Nigel said he'll pay for my rent while we're gone!"

"Puun-Puun!" He shouted in agreement, and followed his Wizard into her apartment and prepared for a long night to come.

* * *

Over the course of that week, the members of _Fairy Tail_ who were set to leave for Oasis began their preparations. Several members gathered together to test their strength in battle outside the guild hall, since none of them had experienced a full fight since the _Eclipse Gate_ fiasco.

Here we find Natsu and Erza clashing together for a fiery brawl on a hill outside of Magnolia, while Lily and Levy sit idly by to watch Gajeel an Gray train as well.

"Gyah! C'mon Erza! What are ya' holdin' back for?!" Natsu cried out with rage as his fists blazed with brightly colored flames.

Erza responded, re-quiping out of her _Hearts Kreuz_ armor and into her Flame Empress armor. "Very well, Natsu. Come at me with full force!"

"It's about time! HERE I COME! _FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!_ "

They clashed in a cloud of smoke and fire, and just as Natsu bashed his fist into hi opponent, Erza readied herself with a resilient defense. Natsu jumped up towards Erza, who then swung at him with one of her standard swords. He laughed as he dodged the attack.

"C'mon Erza, can't afford to use a real weapon on me?"

"Not at all." She responded with reason. "If I attempt to use my fire spear, than neither of us would be able to land an attack."

Natsu ignored the excuse and jumped at her with fire in hands. "That's what you think! _FIRE DRAGON WING ATTACK!_ "

Natsu then engulfed the grounds in flames, but this left Erza completely unharmed. "Natsu, you're going to have to think smarter when attacking in Oasis. Don't just use your usual attacks."

The two continued to clash, but right down the hill from their fight Gajeel and Gray were training as well.

"Iron Dragon Lance: _Demon Log!_ " Gajeel yelled as he summoned a grey magic circle, and followed by fired several iron spikes toward Gray.

" _Ice-Make: Barrier!_ " Gray shouted out in defense as a large sheet of ice spawned in the nick-of-time, canceling out Gajeel's attack.

The Iron Dragon Slayer then took a pause and laughed as he wiped his brow. "Ha! That's some speed you got there on that Ice Magic!"

Gray laughed as well. "Yea, I have had time to practice it over the years. You're not so bad yourself."

Gajeel took a break to sip some water. "Ya know, other than you, Laki, and that weird Sabertooth guy, I'm not sure I've seen a whole lot of _maker-mages_?"

Gray joined him "Hmm, now that 'ya mention it, there really aren't that many I can name either."

Levy, who was sitting there alongside Lily, began to speak to that thought as well. "You know, it's been bugging me that they decided to have me go on the trip without saying why. I mean, I'm grateful to get out and help my guild, but it's just strange since I'm not known to fight a whole lot."

Gray laughed. "Don't worry. I'm sure they have their reasons for picking everyone on that list."

Gajeel smirked, and patted Levy on the head. "Yea, Squirt! They'll probably have you do the book reading or something. You know in case we get lost."

She frowned and let out a long sigh. "…Thanks guys."

As the small group laughed that thought away, we now come a crossed a bizarre sight just behind a boulder at the foot of the slope.

"Oh my beloved, Gray, I am torn that this mission will keep us apart for a whole month!" Juvia sat anxiously as she watch her guild mates battle and laugh above her. "I suppose my Water Magic may not be useful in the desert, but either way I want to be there to protect you." She then looked to the ground in anger.

"If only the other guild members saw the same urgency of the matter that I do. They would have taken my suggestion of boarding the ship undetected to join the mission with me." She was now heading back towards the guild hall, but then noticed _Romeo Conbolt_ entering the building from her end of town.

"Hmm, he may be my answer..." The loving Rain Woman rubbed her hands together as she dashed for the guild door following Romeo.

* * *

At that same moment, Lucy, Wendy, and Happy were walking through the guild hall, more specifically around the upper indoor balcony.

"Hmm, I wonder how long those guys are expected to train out there. It'd be pretty bad if we beat each other up before we even left the grounds!" Lucy kept her usual level of concern up high as her friends continued to battle outside.

Happy sighed and scratched his head. "I dunno...maybe Natsu and Gajeel should be knocked out for the boat ride over. I don't wanna clean up any messes!"

Wendy replied to both of them with comfort. "I think they'll be alright. After all, Master told Erza to train Natsu, so he won't have to fight Gajeel and Gray to go overboard."

Lucy and the others laughed "Yea, I guess that's a good…"

Just then they stopped as they walked by Master Makarov's office. They heard Makarov and Nigel talking in a very serious demeanor, almost like… _a training session_?

"What's going on here?" Lucy whispered to her guild mates as they peaked through the crack of the door. Inside, Master Makarov sat at his desk, while Nigel looked to be in some preliminary stance for a magic spell.

"I don't know, I'm not really feeling any channel of magic when I cast it."

Makarov nodded, and kept his hands crossed as he sat a top his own desk. "Well you were able to learn most of my Minimum Defense Seal rather quickly. It's a shame the more intense spells might be too much to handle..."

Defense Seal as the name suggests, is a defensive Magic. It involves the user creating multiple seals around them that are used for blocking an enemy's attack. However, it takes a while to complete the seals. Makarov was known to use a number of these defensive Magics during his fight with master Precht on Tenrou Island, and was now doing his best to help Nigel master a few before he left.

"Yea, maybe I'm in over my head..." Nigel stepped up and did some re-thinking. "These aren't as easy as simple elemental spells, so I should have seen this coming, but I really need a few defensive spells added to my repertoire."

Makarov pondered for a brief moment and then reconsidered his options. "Hmm, well perhaps this is not you over thinking things, but instead it's me under thinking them...you do not bare the marking of our guild, but I sense a similar resilience in your magic."

He turned and grabbed an old brown book from his desk. "There is a grand seal of great defensive power, one ancient spell brought down through the pages of history."

Nigel frowned, and grabbed the old book from his hands. It held an outline of a light magic circle as an emblem on its cover, and a soft coating of dust everywhere else.

Makarov thought again before Nigel said another word. "I am worried this is a ridiculous assumption on my end...but I feel that if you spend enough time around the others, you will be able to unlock that spell."

Nigel found a page folded by Makarov, and after opening it to the correct image, his eyes grew wide with confusion and disbelief.

Makarov continued. "With all things in our guild, magic is a channel that links us together with our comrades. In our time of need, we can feed off this channel of light in order to protect our loved ones, and in the end that _is_ the very essence of _this spell_."

"So you're saying it's all arbitrary?" Nigel asked patiently. "I mean this is far superior that any other spell you've shown me so far. I'm not so sure I'm cut out for this one."

"Well it's no Grand Fairy Spell, that I can assure you!" He teased, and then grew serious once again. "What I'm saying is that eventually, you'll figure it out."

Makarov sat up from his desk and carried on. "As you said before, you may not be a very powerful wizard, but you are very intelligent, and you hold a high degree of magical wisdom and experience under your belt. As long as you can tap into the channel of magic that stems out of your comrades, then I have no doubt that this spell will help you in your time of need."

The small guild master then jumped off the desk and paused for a proud bit of laughter. "Although, I doubt it will be on the same scale as the first time _I_ used it…and judging by everything you've told me about your own skills, you may pass out due to magical stress...but in the end I'm sure you'll be fine!"

Nigel laughed, and put the book under his arm as he shook his head in amusement. "Yea…that's reassuring, thanks you sir. I'll take a look at it before we head out."

Outside, Lucy and Wendy remained very quiet during the entire conversation that took place. Both girls were very curious with whatever spell Makarov was showing Nigel, but just then Carla came around the corner, and began to yell at her three guild mates for eavesdropping.

As they left the hall, the entire guild eventually went home and began their final packing and preparations for the long voyage ahead.

* * *

 **That was Seven. The next few chapters will be featuring the final setting for the story, Lake Oasis. If you're reading through those chapters as they get released, and you have any thoughts or criticisms for Oasis (or anything else for that matter), let me know! (Also, I didn't do a full scale review of these two chapters to save time, so if you notice any big, big issues with them, let me know.)**


	9. Chapter Eight - There's No Turning Back

**Author's Note: Hey here's chapter 8. These two chapters mark roughly the halfway point of the story, and after these they'll start to get filled with a little action/drama. Apologies for all the dialogue, but I had to set the scenes somehow while also keeping the scene rolling. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Eight - There's No Turning Back Now

* * *

The next day the entire group gathered at the Guild Hall, and began their long trek from Magnolia to Hargeon. As they arrived inside the port city of eastern Fiore, they boarded what appeared to be a well armored steam ship with blue sides and white trimmings. On the sides of the ship, they noticed the insignia for the Rune Knights, and use this as a reminder to sit well behaved for the long voyage ahead.

As they finally began sailing towards the south, the large group of wizards began discussing their plans for their arrival. Inside the main conference room, around a very large, circular table sat Nigel, Lahar, and his aid Doranbolt, along with Natsu and Happy, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Cana, Gajeel and Pantherlily, Levy, Max, Warren, and finally Wendy and Carla.

The group settled down as every one found a seat or appropriate standing room. Now it was time for the _A.N.T._ man to begin his debriefing for the remainder of the team.

"Okay, can everyone see the image on the map?" Nigel asked the group if his projection was coming in clear enough.

They all nodded to let him carry on. "…and do our resident Dragon Slayers need any extra _Troia_ before I start talking?"

Wendy laughed and gave him a nod of relief. "It's okay, I made sure to treat them when we got on."

"Okay." He looked at the map projection and continued. "It looks like we're going to be entering in through these northwestern waters. They're probably expecting hostile ships at all times, so we'll have to take a private airship to get us over their fleet and into their airport at the center of the lake."

"Hang on!" Natsu yelled. "What's stopping us from just running in and tearing the place up?"

"He said the borders are heavily guarded, you idiot." Gray responded with an annoyed tone on his voice. "Not to mention the giant waste of crazies that surrounds the place!"

Natsu stood up and got right in the Ice Mage's face. "Look, I wasn't asking you for anything! So how 'bout you pipe down before I…"

"Boys! That's Enough!" Erza yelled. "Natsu, Nigel has explained this several times; there is a large energy field protecting the lake boundary, as well as heavily guarded gates at each entrance."

Nigel agreed. "She's right. The only easy way in is to sneak though their airport by means of airship. However, those outside desert grounds aren't god awful. We're planning on sending two ground teams into the island as well. The main team will follow me into the lake facility to conduct surveillance and begin sabotaging the cities underneath. The other teams will wait outside in the desert and secure the outer grounds, while also sampling the locals on what's really going on down there."

Lily scratched his chin. "Sounds like a plan. Do you already have the teams picked out?"

Nigel smiled. "Yes as a matter of fact I do. Our original spy inside Oasis was a wealthy and elderly man by the name of _Cecil Wattson_ , who felt rather bored with his fellow partners, and decided to be the council's mole for the last few years; at least that's what I've heard."

Nigel then paused to add an extra view to the display. "Sadly, he recently passed away, but his servants are still acting as spies for our cause. Since I'm the one with the money, I'm going to go in acting as a grandson or relative of his, and act like I'm taking over his businesses inside. Next is Cana, who volunteered to pose as my newly found wife."

Cana held up a bottle of wine and grinned with enthusiasm. "Hah! I wasn't about to pose as some secretary or anything like that. I'll pose as some rich goon's wife any day as long as there's free liquor involved."

Nigel rolled his eyes and held in a chuckle. "She'll play it off as the reason why I never decided to visit the facility before now, and she'll also be carrying Happy in as her exotic pet."

"Oh cool!" Happy laughed out loud. "I can finally get the respect I deserve, hehe."

Nigel was liking this mission more and more as everyone responded rather well with their positions. "Then Lucy will join us as my business secretary, since I imagine she's the only one here who's well-versed in business protocol."

There, Lucy was the first to moan in slight disapproval. "Yea I was expecting that...but if anyone there gives me one creepy look I'll break my character and their necks all at once!"

Natsu and Gray both held in laughter, and Nigel joined as he finished up. "Finally, we will be joined by Natsu, Gray, and Erza who will be disguised as privately hired body guards."

They all three looked up with determined expressions, but some of the others who weren't named began looking uneasy.

Nigel continued. "While we all operate from inside the grounds, we will have our surface team split up into two different factions in order to run things for us in the desert. This group will consist of Gajeel and Lily, who will be our first faction. Your job will be to travel though out the desert grounds in search of these."

He pointed to large black dots all located around the desert that surrounded the grand man-made lake. "Apparently they're some sort of fighting pits that are designed to host battles for the criminals in the desert. You two will jump from dot to dot and see what their up to. Meanwhile, the second group will consist of Max, Wendy and Carla who will stay located in the southwestern portion of the desert. It appears that this region is actual rather easy to deal with, and consists of refugees and commoners who settled the region before the crime lords. Your group will go around to the small villages and burgs and survey them on any weird behaviors from the crews inside."

Warren interjected. "Hang on, Why do those have to be the ground teams?"

Nigel responded. "Because their magical abilities fit best in their situations. Gajeel and Lily can manhandle the fighting pits, while Wendy and Max can use their Air and Sand Magic to protect themselves in the rest of the desert. After all they will be in a desert so they pretty much have the perfect magic."

Carla spoke up with Warren. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with you people sending Wendy alone with Max and myself into that desert!"

Nigel pleaded with her. "Trust me, Carla. The desert is a _lot_ safer than the underground areas, and I could use extra wizards around the desert."

"Well I'm pretty satisfied!" Natsu stood up and punched his fists together, igniting his hands in flames. "I'm all fired up!"

Lucy added on to the end of that. "Yea I guess this won't be so bad after all."

Nigel nodded to both of them and shrugged. "As long as we stick to protocol, we'll be fine."

Levy then interrupted. "Hang on, if those are the ground teams then why were Warren and I selected to come?"

Lahar took over from there. "That was our doing. We figured we could try to use Warren's _Telepathy Magic_ to keep in touch with everyone, and we could use you as our researcher if we run into any issues on the island."

Nigel then took the conversation to round things down as he grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Again, if we stick to the plan, we'll be out in time for you guys to take the reward and go to the next guild party all in one."

The entire group now seemed slightly more confident with their mission ahead, but just as the meeting took place, there also seemed to be some shuffling on the lower deck of the ship…

"Are you sure they're on board? I haven't seen them anywhere!"

"Calm down, Juvia I'm sure there here somewhere, just don't let the others catch us!"

It now appeared that Juvia Lockser couldn't bear to be away for her beloved Gray for a whole entire month after all. So because of their situation, she tried convincing other guild members into joining her attempt to board the mission ship. Lucky for her, Romeo Conbolt was feeling rather reckless, reckless enough to enter the fray and join his guild mates in their quest to stop these criminals.

However, what awaited our friends in _Fairy Tail_ was exactly the truble they expected, along with the crime lords and villains that were hidden away in the dark depths of Oasis.

* * *

 **So I didn't realize this until now, but this chapter is a little shorter. However it is filled with a lot of details. So I hope everything was good enough!**


	10. Chapter Nine-A Mirage in the Desert

**Author's Note: Chapter 9! This actually was the hardest chapter to write in the entire story, because it was very difficult for me to describe what I wanted Oasis to look like, along with what I wanted the desert to look like outside.**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Nine - A Mirage in the Desert

* * *

As the Magic Council's naval fleet moved further and further south, the _Fairy Tail_ crew began their last minute preparations for their final departure into Oasis. The ship hands of the magic council were prepping the private airship that Nigel and the main group would use for passing over the borders of the Oasis fleet, and the others were readying simple speed boats for the ground teams to land in the desert.

Meanwhile, Natsu was sheltered away in Lucy's bunk room, feeling more and more ill as they sailed south.

"OOoo God! I think I'm gonna hurl!" Natsu yelled in misery as his hands clamped tightly against his abdomine.

Lucy let him stay on the bunk and tried to comfort his sickness. "Don't worry, I sent Happy to go get Wendy. I think she stopped off at Gajeel's room first." She patted him on the back and rubbed it counter clockwise.

"That metal bastard…he's stealing my Troia…" Natsu cringed with anger while leaning over Lucy's shoulder.

"Natsu, I don't think it works like that. There'll be plenty to go around." She explained the situation while continuing to try and comfort him.

Just then, however, Cana and Nigel walked by their room and stopped to peak in on the two wizards.

"Aww, that's soo cute!" Cana teased while grinning. "Ya know Lucy, I never knew you would resort to taking advantage of Natsu while he's all sick like that?!"

Lucy blushed and yelled back in anger. "No! That's not what's going on here!" She then tossed her wizarding partner onto her bed in the corner of the room, causing him to moan even louder in agony.

Nigel laughed and covered his eyes as Natsu rolled off and smacked against the ground. "Jeeze, Lucy! Don't you have a heart?"

She went to reply, but he quickly interrupted her. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone about…this. Just be sure that when you're done here you guys meet the rest of us in the main meeting room. We have to address the issue of your guild emblems, and costumes." He then left with Cana down the hall as the two of them roared with laughter.

Lucy silently face palmed as she stood over Natsu's fallen body. "Man, why do I have to be stuck with such terrible people?"

* * *

After finishing up with Natsu and his motion sickness, Lucy and the others joined Nigel in the main council room.

"Okay, I need everyone who plans on going onto the island or inside the facility to grab this _lacrima cream_." Nigel explained as he laid out several bottles of lotion onto the table. "This stuff is designed to conceal any blemishes, scars, or tattoos as long as it's applied right. We can't go in here and have all you guys flaunting your guild emblems; otherwise we risk the threat of being detected."

As his fellow partners began to apply the lotion to their respected emblems, he continued to explain the situation further. "Do NOT let this stuff touch any liquids. It may be safe at first, but after a while liquids _will_ wash it off. Also over time it will naturally fade, so if you have to, you may be applying it often. When we're stationed in the mansion we shouldn't have to wear it or our disguises, only when we leave to travel through the streets."

Then Nigel looked to Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza and Cana and handed each of them a card. "You all will be accompanying me into the facility as our main team. Here are your basic disguises and aliases. Happy, like I said you'll just be posing as Cana's pet cat, so you shouldn't have to worry about anything except your guild emblem."

He then turned his attention to Gajeel, Lily, Wendy, Max and Carla. "You all will be our B team."

Gajeel yelled with rage, sounding irritated that he was once again labeled as the B Team. Nigel chose to ignore it and continued. "You all can just wear your standard clothing, along with some desert robes or cloaks over top, your choice. However, I do ask that you all cover up you guild emblems to preserve the safety of _Fairy Tail_ , in case you get compromised."

Finally, he looked to the rest of the group which left Levy and Warren. "Because the two of you are remaining on board these fleet ships, you don't have to worry about any disguises."

Natsu yelled in response "Lucky You!", while Nigel laughed at his honesty. He then continued his instructions.

"Are there any big questions?"

Gray responded rather quickly. "Actually, this all seems pretty straight forward. Keep our mouths shut and act like we've been there before."

Nigel grinned and turned towards the others. "…And Lucy said none of you guys carried intelligence?"

"Watch it!" She yelled back, making that the third full interjection from Fairy Tail this meeting.

Nigel then turned to ignore it, and to address the full group one last time. "Okay, ladies and gentleman I hope all of you are ready for what's next. When we get in there, anything could happen, so we must STAY on course for our plan."

As everyone began to mobilize, Nigel ran over towards Gajeel and took him off to the side. "Gajeel, I have some extra instructions for you."

He told the Iron Dragon Slayer to stay put as he handed him a paper map. Gajeel grinned and took the map with pride. "Well, is that so. What do ya' got?"

He told Gajeel to open the map, and began to explain. "The day after your scheduled arrival, I need you to head to this fighting pit in the northwest before you go anywhere else. At roughly 1:00 in the afternoon, you will find one of my informants dueling in the pits. After his fight, try to get a hold of him for some minimal debriefing."

Gajeel looked confused. "How do you expect me to know which guy it is?"

"Easy, just flash him this card." He grinned and handed him a solid metal card with his company's logo on it. "Although, I don't think you'll need it. I believe you'll know him when you see him."

Gajeel fiddled with the card in between two of his fingers, and left the room with Levy and Lily as Nigel turned back to the command crew.

As the others left for the bunk rooms, Natsu walked Lucy back to her's for a good night's sleep.

"Jeeze, this is pretty cool huh? They got us here in disguises and fake names trying to bust some criminals like a bunch of ninjas!"

Lucy giggled and agreed with her fiery pink haired friend. "Yea it's pretty cool. I hope everyone will be ready, I'm kinda nervous about it myself."

Natsu looked at her and grinned. "Ah don't worry, Lucy. We'll all be together every step of the way." They stopped off at her door. "By the way, thanks for helpin' me with my sickness earlier. I didn't think I'd make it any longer on this stinkin' thing!"

She blushed and smiled back, graciously accepting the remark. "No problem, Natsu. I'm glad I could help." She then opened her door and ran inside. "See you tomorrow. Err, when we take off that is!"

He smiled a toothy grin, and waved goodbye. "Alright, Night!"

Natsu then turned down the hallway in search of Happy and his room to begin his very own night of sleep before the long day to come.

She closed her door, and let out a sigh. "Don't worry, Natsu. I have faith we'll be alright…"

* * *

The next day, the crews all began their operations for lift off. Nigel led his flight team, along with the members of _Fairy Tail_ into the airship. As the blimp began to take off, they waved out the window to the rest of the crew on the boat, and began their final leg of the journey flying through the air towards the island of Oasis.

About an hour into their journey, the flight team spotted several large-scale steam ships floating in open waters. Just beyond the line of ships, the passengers got their first glimpse at the shores of an island that appeared to be bare to the rock, with hints of sand and ruble scattered a crossed its landscape.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Nigel came through the ship's corridor and addressed everyone all at once.

"Okay gang, we're beginning our decent into the lake. When we get there, let _ME_ do the talking. That is unless one of them addresses you directly…and please don't give them any lip! We want to get through the airport as fast as possible and begin our search for this Wattson guy's old mansion. We can begin the rest of our plans when we get inside."

It was a wonder that any of them followed his instructions, because as he addressed them, they each looked out the windows to get their best views of the scene below. What they saw was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

It was a large, oval pool of water with curved ends that stretch miles down the island from North to South. It was trimmed in a large rim of chrome steel that separated the lake's artificial edge from the rest of the desert's stony landscape, and the borders of the lake appeared to be heavily walled.

There was also no actual shoreline that gradually went into water. Instead there was a straight drop off from the metal walls down to the first layer of the pool's floor. As they drew closer, they noticed the highest level of the lake's floor sat just under the water line, and gradually carried on several hundred yards towards the pool center.

As they flew in closer, the actual ground underneath the water no longer looked like pure metal, but instead seemed to hold several strips of glass. They could also see small strips of roadways under the water's surface beneath each of these glass sections, and all the other stretches of the lake bed were covered in the usual metal flooring. As your eyes followed the lake bed from the edge to the center of the lake, the view grew more and more faded underneath the water, which had to mean the lake bed was sinking lower as you went further out to open water.

However this bland metal lake was not the only view throughout the entire Oasis grounds. All around the metal edge appeared to have small steel sky scrapers that towered over the shore, which all dotted the rim of the lake in a bizarre sight to view. One building at the southern most edge of the oval was not silvery steel, however, but instead shined as a dark green against the bright rocky brown below.

This building looked to be a very large and very elaborate residence, but nothing else could be determined from their view now as the air ship began spinning around. Coming out of the northern side of the shore was a large, white platform that stretched straight out to about the center of the lake. This appeared to be a large landing strip as they grew closer and closer, and it appeared to fit perfectly with the metal wall on the northern edge.

It was here that Happy giggled slightly in his seat. "Teehee. I was right; it _is_ a giant swimming pool. They even have an airport disguised as a diving board!"

Natsu looked out once more, and turned to his feline friend and laughed. "Well, when we get in there, be sure to find the guy that built it and tell him you like the design, okay buddy?"

As they fell even closer to the lake, they could now get a good view of the surrounding desert. It appeared to have large crevasses and ravines that looked like giant cracks in the rock scattered throughout the whole landscape. As they lowered, the passengers could see large tarps and awnings inside each crack. This made it clear that there were people and settlements inside these ravines, which acted like giant streets that connected the desert world in a giant webbed network, with some of these cracks ending at the metal walls of the lake. This proved to be very logical for avoiding the heat and dry conditions of the desert sun, while also kept the grounds very hidden from the view above.

They also noticed the little black dots mentioned by Nigel in his discussion with Gajeel, which were apparently small fighting pits that were scattered about the surface of the desert surrounding the lake.

Finally, as their airship turned to land, they could see a large desert village that spanned outside the lake's southwest corner and along the bottom edge of the western length of lakefront, which is most likely where the group of Max, Wendy, and Carla would be heading for their own mission.

Suddenly, they felt a large thrust in the aircraft, and the lights changed from red to yellow. Nigel came out of the cockpit and addressed the crew for the next phase of the operation.

"Okay everyone. Welcome to Oasis."

* * *

 **Okay, If you have read through my whole story so far and have wanted to comment or critique anything, this might be the best chapter to do. I really am curious on people's perception of Oasis. (If not, no biggy. I'm not here to really care about traffic or page views, just to write my stories.) New chapters tomorrow!**


	11. Chapter Ten-Entering The Beast

**Author's Note: Hey, Gang! Here's Chapter 10! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Ten - Entering the Underworld

* * *

As the landing crew of the Oasis airport began to lock in the Fiore team's airship, they quickly filled the vicinity with guards, and one military official waited outside the airship with a clipboard in hand.

"Okay, gentleman! Please allow our visitors to exit first. We don't want to scare any of them off just yet!" He said while laughing as he read this visitor was a newly assigned resident.

At that moment, the entrance ramp into the airship opened, and from it emerged a tall, slender man with short brown hair who appeared to be none other than Nigel. He was wearing a dark grey suite with a white shirt, and a black tie. With him, was a rather young brown haired beauty who was none other than Cana. She wore a black form fitting dress that revealed a large amount of her neckline, black high heels, a golden necklace to finish it off. She also carried a white leather hand bag, and in her hands was a small blue cat she held as a pet, who for our purposes again appeared to be a silently sleeping Happy.

Behind them followed a beautiful blonde haired girl with her hair tied back in a small ponytail, wearing a grey blazer with a matching skirt, a white button up shirt underneath, black shoes and black rimmed glasses. She was also carrying a black hand-bag and note pad. This was none other than Lucy, who was posing as Nigel's business secretary for the act.

They were all quickly confronted by the military official as they exited the blimp, which left them alert and slightly unhinged.

"I am terribly sorry, sir but if you are unaware this is a _very private_ facility. Therefore I will need to see some identification." The military man addressed his statement to Nigel, and held out his hand. "We will also need to examine anyone and everyone who plans on entering the facility. Do you have any other members in your party?

Nigel smiled as he handed the officer his ID. "I hope this will suffice? It's just a company ID card. I'm _Cameron Wattson_ , nephew to the late _Cecil Wattson_. As for my party I have a few body guards waiting on board." Then he gestured to some people in the airship to come out.

Out of the hull, appeared Natsu dressed in a black combat suit with his scarf wrapped around his forehead and he carried a large magic rifle in his hands. Behind him was Gray, who wore the same combat suit and no head gear, and he held two magic pistols holstered on his belt.

Finally a third body guard appeared wearing the same outfit as the other two, except this one had a full helmet with black viewing glass over the eyes. This third guard was none other than Erza, who did a phenomenal job at hiding her natural gender from the soldiers and also carried one of her katanas holstered on her back.

Nigel smiled at the officer in return. "I was told they could bring their arms into the grounds as long as I paid my fees. "He then handed the officer a specific amount of Jewel, and the officer gratiously accepted the payment.

"…This will suffice, but we'll still need to perform a small routine check." He then signaled to his guard to look over the six visitors as quickly as possible.

As they circled the _Fairy Tail_ team, Cana let out a small laugh to diffuse the tension. "Oh, honey I really hope these gentlemen will finish up soon. I've heard so many wonderful things about the city, and I'm dying to see our new penthouse mansion!"

Nigel laughed in honest agreement. "Don't worry, this should only take a minute, dear." He felt weird talking like a complete stiff, but tried to hold it up as long as he could.

Lucy rolled her eyes and stood anxiously among the guards. One of them circled her, and as he did he leaned right up to her ear and grinned. "Ya know, this place is awfully dangerous for newbies. I hope you'll find it easy fitting in with the crowd..." He laughed and lingered behind the timid blonde wizard while the other guards chuckled off to the side.

Lucy didn't answer, and she instead decided on turning her head down in pure discomfort. Her keys started to glow from under her blazer, but nothing spawned. Apparently Oasis was filled with random _Magic Jamming_ devices to monitor the facility's use of spells in certain places.

At that moment, however, Natsu glared in the direction of the guard who harassed Lucy and stepped forward to confront him, but as he did Gray and Erza grabbed his shoulders and shook their heads.

At the same time Nigel turned and grabbed the guard's arm and brought him in close. "Funny, it would be a shame to see you lose that uniform for such a stupid mistake. Would you like to see that happen?" He then grinned and looked to his three angry body guards. "Or would you like to take it up with my men? I think my leader there would love a warm up."

The guard looked amused, and kept a hardy smile. "No, sir."

Nigel grinned and looked him in the eye as he patted him sarcastically on the shoulder. "Glad to hear here it. Now I'd quit harassing my assistant and get out of my site."

The guard responded again "Yes, Sir." and turned toward Natsu. As they exchanged glares he left with his other guards. Then the first officer cleared the group for entry and they followed a guide through the airport and down to their transportation.

* * *

They were all in shock at the beautiful display of chrome and glass that made up the inner facility, and even more in shock when they found their limo, because other than _Magic Mobiles_ they had never seen actual automobiles before.

As they entered the riding cabin, they all sighed with relieve, because the driver's seat was sealed off from the luxury seats that they occupied.

Suddenly, as the car drove off the entire group sighed as a massive amount of tension left the air.

Cana was the first to talk. "Okay, this is already a lot to handle. I'm gonna need a drink when we get to the apartment."

Nigel sighed. "Yea I'm with you on that one." He then looked to Lucy. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but thanks for keeping you cool."

Although it bothered her, she let out a small smile. "Its okay, Nigel. I'm over it now."

Natsu on the other hand was still bothered by the scene. "This place already pisses me off. I can't wait to take these monsters down."

Gray turned towards Erza. "How you doin' in there? You look legit! I can't even tell you're a girl."

She turned toward him and replied. "It's not so bad…Though, I am a little uneasy with the _gender split_ in this place."

Like Natsu, Erza was still held up on the way the guards treated Lucy at the airport. She tried to handle it a little better than he did, but either way began a discussion concerning the matter at hand.

"Nigel you mentioned a group of people run this place as a governing body, but I imagine you left the specifics out of he details." Erza raised an eyebrow and waited for his response.

Nigel had no choice and turned to respond. "Yea it's pretty atrocious actually. That's why I went through careful considerations with the three of your costumes." He pointed at Cana, Lucy and Erza. "There are tons of whack jobs that prey on women in this place. It's all because those psychos on the board let them run amok."

Lucy looked confused. "Guys on the Board?"

"It's just like Erza mentioned." Nigel explained. "The men who are in charge of the facility. They're a group of several insane businessmen who came here to establish high-tech magical weaponry. The worst part is they're all very powerful wizards as well, which is why we needed a powerful team to combat them."

Natsu responded in anger. "Pssh! I bet they're nothing. I'm gonna smear them all over this place when we tear it down."

The group remained quiet for the remainder of the ride. As their limo traveled along the western glass corridor, it finally arrived to a small city located in the southwest corner of the lake. As they arrived to a certain section of the floor, there was no more sunlight visible through any glass. Therefore the lights in the city were all artificial, and each building had brightly lit windows on all sides. As the limo traveled through the town it finally arrived and the back end of the town, where it stopped at a large door that shined black with golden handles and was located in the wall of the Oasis facility, rather than a stand-alone building.

"Here we are, sir. Welcome to your former uncle's home." The driver yelled as he rolled down the divider between the car chambers.

"Thanks." Nigel handed him a tip and led his group through the doors. When they arrived inside the building they were greeted by the staff, who told them it was now okay to remove their disguises.

"Nigel, can we trust these guys?" Gray asked in confusion, but tried to keep it quiet.

"Don't worry." He responded. "' _Mr. Wattson'_ was actually one of our informants before he died. I just found out that he was a former member of the Magic Council who helped power on Oasis's electricity with his engineering as a ruse to gain access into the grounds." He waited to continue after the servants left.

"Besides, these guys are all servants who live in a giant crime nest. They were probably all slaves or hard laborers at some point, so I imagine they have some grudge on the system as well."

The group then entered the elevator that would take them from the lobby to the penthouse mansion. When they ascended over the city and into the ceiling above the cavern they all began to look confused, but that confusion turned to awe as their elevator was lifted above the water line and into a glass elevator shaft, which proved to give them a beautiful view of the lake.

"You _know_ this guy was rich if he had such a large property along the upper rim." Nigel told the others as they looked out to the water. "This wall we're on runs straight up to the upper wall of Oasis. Only the elite members of the facility can afford real-estate above the water's surface, and this guy has had a huge mansion up here."

Eventually the elevator stopped and they all turned around to exit. They arrived to a very large living room that had a massive bay window that looked over that water. To the right the room was complete with couches, a large Television Lacrima, surround sound speakers, and several lounging chairs and tables. To the left of the elevator door there appeared to be a large kitchen with a full scale bar and a dining table with six seats. Up the small set of steps that sat past kitchen there was a hallway that led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. The only room that was not included in that hallway was the master bedroom, which could be found on the other side of the kitchen with a large window and a large private bathroom.

"Holy cow, this is a nice place!" Cana said in excitement as she tossed her bags away and settled down on a seat.

"Yeas, except for what lies below it." Nigel reminded her and the others as he referenced the city beneath them. "Alright everyone, pick out a bedroom."

"Hold on!" Natsu yelled out. "Happy, Lucy, and I will take the big one! We'll need it if we're all fitting in one bed."

"Natsu what the hell!?" Lucy yelled out in a flustered emotion, realizing she would never escape the lifestyle of her apartment. She then turned right towards Nigel. "I'll take the smallest most secluded room if we have one available."

"Right, but that master bedroom is pretty large. I guess we can decide who gets..."

He tried to make the decision fair, but just then Cana let out a laugh. "Well, why shouldn't the imaginary couple get dibs on the big room? It is closest to the bar after all." She then turned and directed the rest of her suggestion to Nigel. "Or are you afraid of what might happen?"

Nigel coughed a bit and tried to hold back a smile. "Well no, not at all...just wanting to be fair to the others. I can take the couch if anyone wants the big bedroom."

"Is that so?" Erza replied with a calm tone. "Very well, I'll take the master bedroom if no one else wants it."

"Be my guest." Gray grabbed his bags an headed back towards the back. "I doubt anyone's fighting you for it."

"Now hold on Erza, I said Happy an I get the...!"

"I wouldn't get her started, Buddy!" Natsu tried yelling out an argument, but Happy grabbed the other end of his scarf and started dragging him back to the back rooms with Gray and the others.

The other members of the group laughed and conceded, and each went back into the hallway to pick their respected room. Meanwhile Cana went to follow the others as well, but looked back to find Nigel sitting on his couch with a serious expression.

Despite her original grin, Cana changed her demeanor to look more concerned. "Everything all right, Nigel? You seem a little off."

"Yea." He thought with a heavy head. "Just thinking of our next move, I guess."

* * *

It was then, during the late afternoon that a large caravan finally made it to the western edge of the deserts surrounding Oasis, all the way from the ocean shore. It was here that Gajeel and Pantherlily could be found walking through a crowd in the large village on the southwest end of the perimeter desert. They both wore large tan desert cloaks with hoods over their normal outfits, and Lily had transformed into his combat form for the trip, and also had a hood complete with a face mask to conceal his feline mouth. He also carried his _Musica_ sword underneath his cloak.

"Jeeze, that was ridiculous." Gajeel complained while sounding annoyed with the voyage. "Ya think they coulda come up with a better idea that didn't involve sending us on a rouge ferry and dropping us off like dogs!"

Lily tried to agree. "It seemed to be their easiest option. Now it's time to find that combat arena and see if we can sniff out Nigel's friend." They then began to head north towards the lone arena in the middle of the open desert, away from any ravines or streets, and right under the hot desert sun.

Far behind them in the massive caravan were Wendy and Max who were dressed in similar outfits. Wendy was holding Carla under her cloak, and the three of them began to head inside the large village, in the complete opposite direction from their fellow guild members.

"Well that was an unpleasant walk. I hope these guys know what they're doing." Max said to the remaining two.

"Yea, I don't even remember where we're supposed to go from here!" Wendy tried to calm her nerves, but the thought of finally beginning their mission left her uneasy.

"Calm down, child. I have our map." Carla answered in relief. "It says we're supposed to head to a housing district located near the corner edge of the lake's border."

Max responded first. "Let's get there quick, before this wind picks up. It could be a storm."

The other two agreed and they headed off toward their destination to begin their surveillance in the desert village.

* * *

 **So the place seems creepy already...I hope the teams can cope!**


	12. Chapter Eleven-Our First Days: Part 1

**Author's Note: Chapter 11! This is an exciting one cause it features the first _real_ battle of the story...and you'll never guess who the competitors are!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Eleven - Our First Days in Paradise: Part 1

* * *

It was already past noon, and one evening had passed since their arrival to the desert. Gajeel and Pantherlily sat just outside the large arena that they had found that morning. Although the arena and its surrounding village were completely cut off from the main roads and ravines, it didn't seem like a strange place.

That being said, danger was lurking everywhere.

"Is it time for these guys to open up shop or what? I'm getting real sick of waitin' around." Gajeel was slowly losing patience as he and Pantherlily stood outside the side entrance into the arena.

"Relax. I think they're just starting." Lily replied as the referee could be heard from outside the facility, which now gave them a cue to head on in.

"Step right up and place your bets! Or if you're feelin' rather reckless come on down and join in the fun! We have plenty of spots open for the fights! Let's go wizards, butchers, swordsman anyone! Step right up!"

A small man with balding red hair and a torn up suit stood in the center of the arena shouting these lines.

As the two Fairies entered the arena they looked around and realized the building did not appear to be an ordinary fighting pit. The floor of the pit was made of black metal grooves, with round holes that were large enough for a fighter to fall in scattered all about. Even worse, there seemed to be no light at the bottom of the pit, meaning no one knew where it went. Around the arena, there were also several small bleachers made of old stone and rusted metal. Despite its small size there seemed to be a decent crowd.

"Okay, now keep your eyes out for the other fighters." Gajeel said keeping his eyes peeled. "Nigel said this is the time he's supposed to show his face.

Soon after, two men were lightly persuaded to enter the arena. The first made his way toward the referee. Once his black robe was removed, the first fighter was revealed to be bald and pale, but also had a fit upper body with tattoos and markings all over, complete with a worn pair of brown pants. He also carried two large, black and silver cleavers, and a crazed look glazed over his eyes.

"Who's brave enough to come at me today, boys?!" He cried out while slicing his cleavers together and laughing hysterically.

The referee laughed as well. "Well, it looks like there _is_ another opponent to take on the reigning champ, _Slicer!_ " The crowd cheered and the ref walked over to the other fighter.

"Tell me sir, what's your name?"

Before he responded Gajeel let out a loud howl, and Lily smirked in amusement as they both looked on. "HA! You gotta be kiddin' me!"

It turned out that the other opponent was wearing a dark blue cloak with oddly shaped pants. He had a navy blue cap with a metal forehead protector, and a green bandanna wrapped around his face, and he wore white bandages around his arms and legs. With him, he also carried four Magic Staffs around his back, with the fifth in his hand.

As he made it to the referee he simply responded.

"Just call me, _Mystogan_."

Gajeel and Lily began to laugh uncontrollably. "Well I'll be, it turns out he was free to fight after all!" Gajeel said in amusement.

Lily agreed. "It's amazing. I wonder if Nigel contacted him, or if he was the one who came to Nigel?"

Either way, the two knew fully well that behind the mask, _Jellal Fernandes_ was secretly disguised as his Edolas counterpart, fighting in Oasis.

Just then, Slicer lost his patience. "Okay, _'Mist-man'_ , Imma tear you to shreds!" He lunged at Jellal and swung his two blades maniacally in the air, nearly piercing his opponent multiple times upside the head.

Jellal responded quickly. "Three Layered Magic Circle: _Mirror Water!_ "

As Slicer came in with his attack, he was quickly rebounded by Jellal's spell. Jellal then grabbed all the staves off his back and shouted his next attack.

"Sleep! Five Layered Magic Circle: _Sacred Song!_ "

He then formed five large rings around Slicer's head, but before the attack landed, he twisted out of its range and swung at Jellal.

" _Hammer Blades!_ " Just then, a large cloud of silver smoke in the shape of two hammers swung at Jellal, making him drop the staffs to the ground. Although they didn't fall through the holes, they were too far out of reach for Jellal to grab them.

" _Hmm, I wasn't aware he was a wizard?_ " He thought to himself, but not in fear, almost as if he was relieved.

Slicer laughed and got the crowd in it. "What's the matter man? Can't handle my moves?"

Jellal looked him in the eyes and crouched down to the ground.

" _Meteor!_ " Then he whipped around the arena in a giant stream of yellow light, which nearly lost Slicer.

Then Slicer yelled as he threw his right cleaver. " _Death Claw!_ " The cleaver turned black in mid-air and seemed to stop Jellal in his tracks.

Slicer laughed. "Man, what kinda messed up magic is he playing with?"

Then Jellal stood perfectly still and responded with ease. "This is _Heavenly Body Magic_ , and it's going to be your downfall."

Slicer went to laugh, but looked up and noticed seven yellow circles floating in the sky.

Jellal then placed his right hand over his left and recited these words: "May the Seven Stars bring judgment upon you: _Grand Chariot!_ "

Then, the seven magic circles rained powerful streams of light down onto the field. Not only did they send Slicer to the depths, but they also shattered most of the grates in the arena, leave a giant gaping hole in the middle of the field.

The entire stadium stood in awe as the referee stood with Jellal, who grabbed his five Magic Staffs. "Well I'll be damned folks, looks like we have a new champion! And this one could make it all the way to the top! Give it up for _Mystogan_!"

The crowd cheered as Jellal left the arena in silence.

" _These people are all fools._ " He thought to himself as he wondered off into the desert dust.

Lily went to confront him, but Gajeel stuck his hand out. "Oh No, Lily! You and I are getting in on this action!"

Lily looked confused. "But what about Jellal?"

"He'll be there when we finish up. Besides, it looks like we already have our opponents." Gajeel held a grin the entire way down to the arena floor.

Just then the referee stepped into the center, and was joined by two more goons.

"Ladies and gentlemen we're ready to introduce the next match! Give it up for our local tag team: _Hammer and Nails!_ "

The crowd cheered in response as a large man with two sledge hammers and a small man with two pistols stood in the center of the arena, both with serious expressions on their faces.

Just then, the ref also noticed Gajeel and Lily standing beside him without their cloaks.

"Oh and here are the challengers! Can we ask for your names, gentlemen?"

Laughing, Gajeel grabbed the mic and responded. "Just call us _Black Steel_ and _The Pantherman_!"

He then shoved the mic into the arms of the ref and lunged toward the larger of the two opponents. " _Iron Dragon Hard Fist!_ "

Then his entire right hand became solid steal as he tried smashing his opponent into a million pieces.

Not looking too amused, Hammer swung his weapons and shouted " _Hammer Wings!_ "

He then started spinning extremely fast and knocked Gajeel over to the side, almost into the gaping whole.

Gajeel landed on his feet and looked over to Lily. "You take that little guy. This one's mine!"

Gajeel then summoned a green magic circle underneath his feet, and suddenly he was covered all over with dozens of iron scales, and also turned his right arm into a giant buzzing sword and commenced his fight with Hammer while shouting " _Iron Dragon's Sword!_ "

In the meantime, Lily began to swing his _Musica_ sword at Nails, but as he went to hit, he clashed with one of the tiny pistols, which had small blades underneath the barrels.

Then Nails grabbed Lily by the back of his muscular neck and brought him in. "Look, I don't know who you guys are, but we're not looking to fight here!"

Confused, Lily brought him in closer for an answer. "AGh! What, What do you mean?"

Nails responded. "I _mean_ we're tryin' to take a dive and fall down the hole! We're done up here. We wanna join the _real_ fun down in Oasis!"

Lily still looked puzzled, but as he went to answer, Gajeel jumped behind Nails and threw him towards the opposite end of the arena.

" _Iron Dragon Roar!_ " He shouted as he launched Nails across the arena and watched him land near a hole in the arena floor.

Then as Nails landed, he decided to go for it and rolled over into one of the holes.

"Gajeel! What did you do?!" Lily yelled furiously at his _Iron Dragon_ partner.

"Me?!" He yelled back. "What did _he_ do by rollin' away?!"

"Ding-Dong! We have our Winners!"

The ref then jumped down to greet the two champions. He held their hands high in the air for the audience's cheer, and then turned to address them with honesty.

"Here take this and scram!" As they left they opened the envelope they received for winning. Inside were 300,000 Jewel and a ticket with the symbols 'B1' and a small map pointing to the Southeast Corner of the desert.

"Looks like some sorta map to the next arena? Like a tournament or something?" Gajeel tried to figure it all out even with his puzzled expression.

Lily on the other hand decided to respond in anger. "Never mind that! I had just cracked that fighter on details of the fighting pits. Then you barged over and threw him down the hole!"

Gajeel replied as he decided to eat the little metal card Nigel gave him back on the boat, only to replenish some energy. "Quit your whinnin'! Like I said we'll just leave the questions for…"

Just then he paused, as he just realized they had lost the location of Jellal as well.

Lily stormed off for the northern end of the desert as Gajeel followed. The Iron Dragon Slayer even had a disappointed expression on his face after he realized what he had done.

"Look I'm sure we'll find him! Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

 **That was fun! Gajeel ruined it though. Chapter Twelve next!**


	13. Chapter Twelve-Our First Days: Part 2

**Author's Note: Chapter Twelve! Now we take a look at our gang inside the Lake!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Twelve - Our First Days in Paradise: Part 2

* * *

As the group inside the _Wattson Penthouse_ sat around their beautiful but dimly lit dining table, Nigel held a glass of red liquor and sighed. "Okay, any minute now Warren should be trying to get a hold of me from inside the ship."

Erza spoke up first. "Hold on, isn't there a barrier around the facility that permits magic from being used in and out of the borders?"

Natsu agreed. "Yea! And how far away is Warren, anyway?"

Nigel answered. "He's far enough away so that his magic won't be interfered by the jammers. It mainly stops physical magic, not telepathy. As for his actual distance, it shouldn't matter. Since I instructed him to limit his signal to me alone, it shouldn't be hard for him to reach me all the way here. Besides, thanks to Warren I now have my own telepathy spells, so I may be able to meet him half way, that is if I learned everything right."

Lucy asked another question to follow. "So what do we need Warren for, anyway?"

Nigel quickly responded. "We need him to help radio our findings to the other members. I also need him to be my ears and voice when communicating with Levy as she begins to copy down my notes."

He then pulled out a pair of red framed glasses. "These are _Spatial Link Glasses_. They come in pairs, and when someone uses this pair to read something, their twin pair can be used to view the exact same thing as these one's see."

Lucy took them and continued. "Yea, I've heard of these! They sound really helpful!"

Nigel agreed. "Yes, they are. These reports I've been writing are too large for Warren to take in, so I'll just wear these while Levy uses the other pair and we'll be able to relay our notes without being caught."

Natsu exclaimed after hearing the plan. "That's awesome! We really are secret ninja agents after all!"

Just then, Warren got a hold of Nigel through telepathy. "Nigel, this is Warren! Can you hear me?"

Nigel smiled after hearing the lone signal come through. "Yea Warren, this is Nigel. Glad to hear you! Let's not waste any time. Go ahead and tell Levy to get ready on her end."

He replied with satisfaction. "Okay, are you sure I can't just write it all down myself?."

Nigel shook his head to himself but also vocalized his answer. "Sorry, I'm barely able to hold this telepathy still as is. We'll need a secure connection if we want to get you all everything we have.

Warren agreed, and as he told Levy to get ready, she and Nigel put on their glasses.

What happened, however, was not what they expected.

"Hey, Warren…can you tell Nigel my glasses aren't working?" Levy sounded confused as her view didn't change through the lenses.

Warren frowned and went to respond, but was interrupted by Nigel on the other end. "Oh damn…I'm seeing Levy's notepad…"

" _WHAT?!_ " Everyone shouted with equal disapproval, and Gray was the first to vocalize his thoughts. "You mixed up the glasses?! They were color coded!"

Nigel frowned and slid them off his head. "Yea…I wasn't the one who bought them. Blame it on the Council."

Lucy stood up and shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. The question is what are we gonna do about it?!"

Nigel thought for a second, but only stated the obvious. "Well. We have to switch the glasses somehow."

Cana sighed and nibbled on the tip of a wine bottle. "Hehe, some genius you are..."

Nigel would normally laugh at his self-ridicule, but now wasn't the time. That is until Warren interjected. "Hang on! We heard from Wendy that those combat arenas lead straight down into Oasis. Maybe we can send someone to an empty one and drop them down?"

Nigel thought for a moment and explained it to everyone else. He then felt slightly uncertain that it would work. "Yea, but what about my pair? We have to find a way to throw them all the way up to the surface."

Natsu interjected. "Well hold on! Just let me and Happy fly up and send them through the hole! We got this!"

Happy yelled with joy at the sound of the suggestion. "Aye! It'll be easy!"

Nigel smiled. "…Yea, I guess it's our only option. Just one thing, whoever goes out make sure you put on your disguises!"

* * *

After settling on the final plan, Natsu, Happy, and now Lucy began walking to a location just under the central western desert (the same location as the arena that played host to Gajeel and Lily's fight.) This path forced them to leave the main sub-lake facility, which caused Lucy to slowly lose her cool.

"Ugh, why did I have to open my mouth and volunteer? This place gives me the creeps!" She complained as she wore Erza's combat outfit from before, and followed after her two idiotic friends in front.

She was also right. Since this part of the facility was actually under rock and not glass, there was no natural light, and sketchy buildings were scattered all around in the blackened shadow beneath the cavernous metal and stone above.

Natsu laughed and waved a hand through the air. "Don't worry, Lucy! This will be a piece of cake!"

Happy agreed. "Aye! Maybe when we're done we'll _get_ some cake too…preferably some with fish on it!"

Lucy began to gag. "Happy, that's disgusting! Besides, why aren't you disguised?"

"I'm a cat, Lucy." He responded with sass. "I don't need to play dress up like you silly humans!"

Just then, they finally made it to a warehouse with a large silo that ran straight into the ceiling. It appeared to be connected to the outside surface. However, there were many different gang members surrounding the outside in a suspicious manor, almost like guards.

Lucy pondered as the settled by the corner of another abandoned building. "Man, how are we supposed to get in there?"

Happy laughed. "Heehee! Like this!"

He then wrapped his tail around Lucy and flew into one of the warehouse vents. Natsu ignited his fists and followed them up into the air. When they got inside they were surprised to find no guards inside the room. Instead there was a large net that hung a few feet above the ground, and it seemed to be positioned under a giant hole in the ceiling that shined bright sunlight into the room.

The strange this was, the roof of the hole was designed to have several smaller holes; like some sort of giant drain, but with them there was also a large blast hole that opened up a large portion of the grate.

Lucy pondered again as she removed her helmet. "I wonder what did that?!" She said as she pointed at the oddly place blast hole.

"Dunno." Natsu replied with little care, but just then a small head popped out and into view from the bottom of that same large blast hole, and it looked inside the room.

"Hello? _Natsu?!_ "

It was none other than Doranbolt, the expert in _Direct-Line_ teleportation magic, who stood up above them in the empty desert fighting pit.

"Hey it's _Mest!_ " Natsu recognized him and tried to carry on. "How's it going buddy?"

He yelled back in anger. " _Doranbolt!_ Now do you guys have the glasses?"

"Hold on!" Natsu yelled out. "Why can't you just teleport down here!?"

Doranbolt sighed and lowered his hand through the giant blast hole. "Well I tried, but I can't pass through even with this big break inside the metal. Just toss the glasses up, would ya?"

Natsu didn't appreciate the attitude, but handed the red framed glasses to Happy. The tiny blue exceed flew up through the long vertical corridor to greet Doranbolt and deliver the glasses. However as he reached through the rim of the hole, his wings instantly vanished, and he began to fall.

Panicking, he threw his glasses up to Doranbolt, who quickly caught them and tossed his blue pair down the hole as well. Then Doranbolt heard a noise and instantly vanished back to the ship.

Lucy grabbed the blue glasses as they came down above her, and Happy fell peacefully onto the net right after.

"Holy cow! It turned off my magic!" He climbed off the net and held a hand to his heart just to try and calm his nerves.

Lucy responded as she tried calming him down. "Yea, Nigel said it will do that if you try crossing in and out of the facility borders."

Then they heard a noise and turned around, expecting to be greeted by several dozen guards dressed in black. However, what they found instead was a young girl with several armed men all dressed in different shades of brown.

"Give us your name!" The girl commanded her intruders, but also stood with fear. She was a rather serious girl with short black hair and had on a combat vest, tan undershirt, pants, and brown boots.

No answer from the Fairy Tail members left her rather unnerved, but she never actually attempted to fire her weapon. "I need...I need to know if you are friend or foe."

They looked confused, and Natsu spoke up first. "Huh? Look I don't know who you are, but it'd be best if you got out of our way!" He threatened her and the others as he got down ready to attack.

The girl looked scared, and now had almost no intentions of fighting. "Look, we mean you now harm..." Was it the honesty she found in their eyes, or did the goofy flying cat seem to make them appear less threatening.

All's she knew, was that these were not fighters for Oasis. "I'm sorry, we're with the freedom fighters."

Just then the doors swung open, and several Oasis swat officers came in with magic blast smoke and artillery weapons ready to take all of those inside the warehouse down. They each held magic "electro-staffs", or large metal staffs with tasers on the end of them.

Their leader commanded the others. "Found some new recruits, boys!" He said while laughing. He went to address his men once more, but was quickly hit by Natsu's flaming fists.

"I said BACK OFF! _Fire Dragon ROAR!_ " He then directed his flaming vortex to attack the new Oasis swat team, who ran away in fear.

However, just in the nick of time, Lucy stepped in their way before they could escape. "Oh no you don't! _Open gates of the Maiden and Lion: Virgo! Loke!"_

 _*Ding-Dong!*_ She stepped back and swung their golden keys right through the air. Suddenly Virgo the Maiden and Loke the Lion appeared out of nowhere and began to attack.

Lucy grabbed her whip and helped them fight. "Let's go guys! Take down the one's dressed in black!"

"Whatever you say, Princess. Just be sure to give me my punishment later this evening if I happen to fail at doing my job." Virgo spoke with little emotion like always as she punched several guards right into the ground.

Loke laughed and nodded his head. "Ya know, Virgo? You're right! She really is a princess! A _beautiful princess_ that called upon her loyal knight to save the day."

Lucy chose to ignore the comment as Loke continued bashing in the heads of the enemies as well.

" _Regulus Gatling Impact!_ " He roared as he swung at the remainder of the guards with a great fist of light, and reared back the moment they all smashed into the steel wall.

Then, Lucy noticed Happy with the girl form before lying wounded on the ground. "Hey hold on!" He tried keeping her head up, but she had very little strength to do so.

"Happy!" Lucy shouted as she ran over to help. "Is she alright?!"

Soon after, Natsu, Loke and Virgo finished off the rest of the guards and ran over to Lucy and Happy as well, where they all weighed the girl's condition together.

"I'm...s-sorry." The girl could barely speak as Lucy now held her head slightly forward. "I...I think we lured them in here. It's my fault they attacked you..."

"No we saw them outside way before you arrived!" Lucy tried defending this girl she didn't even know, but just as she continued, her noble celestial spirit stepped down and put his hands underneath the fallen girl's head.

Then, Loke picked her up and comforted her the best that he could. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, Loke the _Lion_ is here to help you now." He flirted through the awkward situation as he pushed the center of his glasses up onto his nose. "And who might you be?"

Lucy looked at him in anger as they all stood up. "Please, don't ruin this!"

Confused and embarrassed, the girl blushed and replied. "O-oh, m-my name is _Eve Wattson_. I am leading a resistance movement around this area of Oasis called the _Lights of Freedom_."

Lucy pondered, and snapped her fingers. "Hey, you must be a relative of Cecil Wattson! Where here in his honor…eh, sorry about his passing."

She gave Lucy and the others a soft smile. "It's okay…He died peacefully. He was actually my grandfather. I decided to become extra involved in fighting Oasis when he *cough*..."

Eve then slowly passed out form exhaustion, and left the Fairies without a further answer.

* * *

From there, the team took Eve back to Nigel and the others, where they began debriefing her as Nigel was finally able to work with Levy and his glasses.

Erza sat right next to her in the living room area, and began her light interrogation. "So you're saying there _is_ a board of powerful wizards ruling this place? And your the granddaughter of a former member?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. My grandfather acted as the fifth board member to learn their secrets. He practiced a little lightning magic to help convince them of his power, but he was never truly a fighter." She wrapped herself tighter in a blanket that the team gave her and continued. "When he died, the other members tried to force me onto the council, and one of them went a step further and tried to force me to marry his son…they wanted me to fall into the fold I guess." She then looked down towards the ground with a dismal expression plastered to her face.

"They're all evil, twisted men who will stop at nothing to rule the world."

Lucy sat in fear right on her other side. "That's awful. What kind of mages are they?"

Eve looked at them an explained. "They all have expertise in _Human Enslavement Magic_ , or _Ruler's Magic;_ a sort of magic that allows the user to bend anyone to his or her will, and in some cases can drain magical energy or even take control of people's physical bodies."

Some Fairies seemed to recognize this form of Magic after facing the challenge on Tenrou Island long ago. The crooked Zordio, who captured of many souls including Lucy's family spirit Capricorn, used this magic as one of the ruling members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.

Eve let that all sink in before carrying on. "The weakest is their informant, Milo. He only knows a few minimal _Ruler's_ spells…Then there's Arthur Greenmonte, the nasty owner of the _Emerald Towers Casino_ at the south end of the lake. He also works with experimental Lacrima, although I'm not entirely sure what kind of magic he knows best. Then there's the foreman of the facility, Ferris. He specializes in a specific type of _Maker Magic_ that's known as _Metal-Make_.

Gray stopped her. "Hold on, this guy uses _Maker Magic_ that's specialized to creating metal?"

She nodded. "Yes, and not just iron, as his name suggests. All different kinds…He's a butcher, and a really powerful force to deal with. His nickname is _The Architect_ …and for some reason he's obsessed with different kinds of metal as well."

Happy let out a loud laugh. "Heehee, sounds like a real dummy if ya ask me."

"No kidding!" Natsu laughed. "He almost sounds like Gajeel and Gray all in one!" He and Happy high-fived after making that joke, only to get smacked by Lucy afterword.

Eve continued. "The last man is the crime leader of the Oasis Underworld. His name is Arno Calvin. He and his son, Reno, are experts in even more twisted variants of _Ruler's Magic_ , and they've even been known to use dark spells that have once been forgotten in our known world."

Nigel slammed his fists as he was finished with his work, and appeared to be eavesdropping the entire time. "He's the bastard who's planning an attack on Ishgar. We need to take him and his son down."

Cana looked over to him with just as much anger. "It sounds like they're all a bunch of creeps to me. Maybe we can each team up and take them out one by one?" She suggested.

"No." Erza flatly responded. "These all sound like very powerful wizards. Add that to the fact that this facility is very large, and we're not even sure where any of their locations are."

Gray joined in right after. "Hang on. One of them is a casino owner, right? Let's just go there and see what we can find out about him."

"Yea!" Natsu made no hesitation to agree. "We saw that giant green tower flying in! Maybe that's where this crummy monster is hiding out"

Nigel agreed as well. "That's not a bad idea, but we'll have to plan ahead for the infiltration."

Eve looked up, completely blown away by their conviction and tenacity. In fact as she asked her question, small tears began forming under her eyes. "Are you all going to help us with our fight?"

Lucy looked at her and smiled brightly. "You betcha! That's the whole reason we came here in the first place!"

Then Natsu stood up and slammed his fists together. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to take these guys down! I'm all fired up!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy yelled while jumping. "We've waited around long enough! Time ta settle the score with these losers once and for all!"

Nigel laughed and thought to himself as he observed his now energetic comrades. " _Wow, they truly do go out of their way when helping anyone outside their guild...no matter what. Maybe we can take this place down after all._ "

He then put his papers down and swiveled in his chair to gather the group for their next assignment.

* * *

 **The _Fairies_ are slowly planning their victory. Sorry for lack of Wendy, Carla and Max. They'll eventually catch up, I promise. New Chapters tomorrow!**


	14. Chapter Thirteen-Cards and Games and Fun

**Author's note: Hey, Chapter thirteen is here! This one's pretty exciting. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen - Cards and Games and All Sorts of Fun!

* * *

As the sun began to set over the oval lake of Oasis, a small orange glow beamed in from the bay window into the large living room of the _Wattson Penthouse_.

Here, Nigel, Cana and Eve began to discuss the mission currently being carried out by their friends. Nigel passed around three glasses and grabbed an old bottle of wine that had been sitting in the kitchen cabinet.

Cana looked to Nigel as she played with her empty glass. "So what exactly did you give Natsu anyway?"

Nigel laughed. "Oh I found these little jelly tablets in the bathroom medicine cabinet that help with stomach sicknesses. I noticed a lot of other magical drugs scattered in there too…I hope that was the right one."

Eve looked up and asked a question. "Why is that? Does he suffer from an illness?"

Cana raised an eyebrow. "Other than stupidity? Just a little bit of motion sickness." She then took a sip of her now full glass.

Eve responded, but tried her hardest not to seem out of place. "Oh…it's funny. You say that, yet I can easily see you all share a strong bond of friendship. Every one of you are just so...helpful."

Cana went to respond, but Nigel interrupted. "You know, I noticed the same thing. While we were in Hargeon I had them doing jobs of all kinds, and they were so happy just to be helping out complete strangers. It's really is a gift."

Cana chuckled. "Ahehe, well...the master did expect that you'd pay us well for helping out."

He paused and had no choice but to laugh at that statement. Soon after he then continued. "To be completely honest, I'd be lying if I said I was all for action on moving into Oasis. I may have 'talked a big game' with the magic council, but my blood never started to boil until _my_ ships were stolen. Fairy Tail though, they just jumped up ready to help as soon as I asked."

He looked up at Eve and smiled. "I can tell you have some trust issues with other people. May I ask why?"

Eve shrunk down in embarrassment. "Well…it's just hard for me to open up. After all, I've grown up in this dark underground city all my life, and I've met very few people who showed me they were truly good."

Nigel leaned back and nodded. "Ya know, I had a similar problem. Growing up in the west I was surrounded by mean adults in my home Empire. They tried to control everything me and my family did. Eventually, I earned some money and founded some companies, and still found mean people to harass me and force me to do their work for them. I couldn't escape it!"

He set his drink down and scratched his head. "I began to resent my money as a negative label, and never tried to flaunt it." He then smiled and looked down at his glass. "Then I begin to work alongside the Magic Council thinking they would change my views, and they too acted like lunatics! It was so hard for me to find anyone who was truly good…and that's why I don't understand why these guys find it so easy to just help anyone in need, no matter the cause? They make it so easy to find friends..."

Then, Cana smiled and got up from her chair and walked over to grab the wine bottle off the counter. However, before she made it there, she made sure to stop behind Nigel and gave him a quick pat on the head.

"It's cause we're _Fairy Tail_ Wizards." She held a small grin of pride on her face before turning around for the bar.

Nigel stopped and froze as she walked away. He then formed a tiny smile of his own, and looked back up towards Eve.

"See what they do to people?" He said with his grin as he too went to get another refill. "There's one more open bedroom in the back hall. It's yours if you'd like."

Eve felt uncomfortable from all the gestures made so far, and as a result froze in the middle of her answer. Nigel never noticed as he made for the kitchen bar, but as he and Cana carried on drinking, the young guest shortly thought to herself for a brief moment.

" _Maybe they're right? Maybe I..._ "

Just then she grabbed her things and made way for the elevator door, quickly ducking out before her hosts noticed her escape.

* * *

Meanwhile Natsu and the others had just parked their limo, and were headed up the stairs into the large building at the south end of Oasis labeled " _Emerald Towers Casino and Resort_."

Natsu walked through the door in a full black suit with a black tie. He held his left arm locked with Lucy's right, while she had on a medium length powder blue cocktail dress, with silver heels to match.

Gray followed them in wearing a similar outfit to Natsu's, and he had Erza'a right arm intertwined with his left. She was wearing a similar dress to Lucy, except it was royal blue and made it down to her ankles. Both ladies wore their hair up in ponytails, with Lucy's being slightly shorter than Erza's.

When they made it to the elevator to try their luck at the high roller's room upstairs, they looked out the elevator window in awe at the beautiful sunset. They all smiled, and Gray began to talk.

"Nice view" He said while laughing. "Shame we have to spend it here in this place."

"Lighten up! It's not so bad!" Natsu responded. "I can't wait to try my hand at some Blackjack. I'm gonna try and double Nigel's money!"

"Yea, I bet you are." Lucy said while smiling and holding Natsu's arm rather tightly. She then remembered the reason they came there in the first place. "So what's the plan when we get in here?"

Erza never hesitated in her response. "Try your hardest to find Greenmonte. If the four of us can bring him in to our vicinity, we may be able to intrigue him enough for a private audience."

Just then their elevator stopped and opened up into a large, well lit casino with hundreds of people and games dotting the multi-colored floor. The crowd looked just as well dressed as the four Fairies did, but they all seemed to fit in like it was their home.

Eventually the faux-gamblers found their way to a large Blackjack table at the center of the hall, and sat down. The dealer began handing out cards to everyone sitting for the game, and right away Natsu took his pair and slid it over in front of Lucy.

"Blow on those for good luck, will ya?" He saw a few gamblers on the way in handing their ladies a set of dice to blow on, and in the moment tried sounding serious to fit in.

"Natsu! She shrieked while blushing. She got mad at him for trying to blow their cover, but her own reaction was just about to do the same. "I'm pretty sure that's for throwing dice, not cards!"

Despite that logic, she did it anyway, making him smile and causing Gray and Erza to roll their eyes at the other end of the table.

The dealer scratched his head, but smiled shortly after. "New to the table, I like the enthusiasm!" He then began taking calls from the round of players ready for a game of 21.

As they game went on, both boys played fairly well, and even made quite a profit. But as the night grew darker, they soon saw their actual target lurking about every once in a while at the edges of the room.

There, around the corner of the main hallway in the back of the room stepped Arthur Greenmonte in full view. He wore a dark green velvet suit and matching tie with bright black shoes. His wheat colored hair was combed back with gel, and he held a dimly lit cigar firmly in his hand.

He also appeared to be a very loud man when greeting guests and observing the tables. "My god, look at this turn out! We'll have Arno's profits up by the end of the night!" He said while grinning.

Yet as he walked around the room, he felt a strange chill of power coming form over near the blackjack tables. This is where he found the _Fairy Tail_ wizards.

A small smirk took his face as the incredible force of magic increased with each step. He then tugged on the sleeve of his assistant. "Cancel my meeting with the bankers. I need to take care of something else for now…"

He handed her his record book and quickly cracked his knuckles. As Greenmonte went to make his move, Gray and Erza actually stood up from their seats and walked toward the bathroom. He continued following them, assuming they had to be the source of magic due to their unfamiliar appearance, until Erza veered off dramatically, making his lone target Gray.

While Gray carried on alone, Erza apparently heard some rather disturbing gossip form a gambler in the corer of the room, and tried to acquire a better vantage point.

"I'm not lying! I hear he's winning every fight in the circuit! He's got some weird magic that shoots lights down from the heavens, or something."

"No way? So the desert finally has a _legitimate_ wizard to keep those fights alive, what's his name?"

"I dunno _Mystogan_? Or something stupid…doesn't matter..."

She stopped listening when it was totally confirmed. The red haired beauty then ignored all other motives and headed back to her friends and passed them to go out the door.

"Gotta go! Tell Gray I'm sorry!" She yelled as she dashed out without saying another word.

Natsu and Lucy looked really confused and went to follow her, completely forgetting about Gay or the game of black jack. When they got outside they were too late. She had already gotten a cab back to the _Wattson Penthouse_.

However, as they stood on the stoop of the casino, the two wizards were confronted with another troubling view. They actually noticed their new friend, _Eve_ was walking out from a cab as well, and quickly storming into the casino through a crowd of people.

But as she made it to the front step, she was jumped by a band of black figures and thrown into a black limo. The limo turned on its lights and flew off to the right side of the street and towards the Eastern side of the lake.

Panicking, Natsu and Lucy both jumped in their original limo parked along the curb, and told the driver to follow after the mysterious vehicle fleeing the scene.

Meanwhile, Happy was skulking around the vents of the casino in disguise, as part of his own position in the operation. He tried coughing through the smoke filled vents, but kept it all as silent as a mouse.

Then, as he started to think none of them had shown up yet, he finally found Gray entering a restroom with a short, plump man in a green suit following behind. When he crossed over into the other vent to sneak a word with Gray, he found the Ice-Make wizard knocked unconscious at the hand of the casino owner.

Happy quickly panicked as he tried to barge through the vent with his shoulder, but his quick thinking failed as the metal grate was too well reinforced. He then totally forgot about finding the other three and flew out the way he came to hit _Max Speed_ towards the _Wattson Estate_.

* * *

As all of this was happening, Gajeel and Lily had made it to their third and final arena for their challenge. It was located in the northeast corner of the desert, just outside the metal border of the lake. Unlike all the other arenas, however, this one was actually well sized and decorated for a proper event. It also had an even stranger spectacle around it and the neighboring village next door as several plants and signs of small vegetation sprouted all around the grounds.

As they waited their turn to fight, they finally lost patience and stormed the field. There was no referee for the current fight, because there were no rules or regulations, except that you had to be a registered fighter, which means the matches could be set up to be lopsided (2 on 1.)

As they made it on to the arena floor, which had similar holed designs in it like all the others, they were greeted by none other than Jellal Fernandes decorated in his mysterious blue robes.

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" They both shouted together, and right away Gajeel made the first strike of the fight, launching a swing of his _Iron Dragon Sword_ towards the former Wizard Saint.

* * *

 **Uh-oh, everyone's in trouble! Damn you Erza for bailing!**


	15. Chapter Fourteen-Fearing for Loved Ones

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter 14! Commence prelude to battles.**

 **Also, I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen - Fear for our Loved Ones

* * *

The lights in Arthur Greenmonte's private office and laboratory were dimly lit, and had an ominous feel to them as the pulsed on and off. Just then, Gray Fullbuster woke up after being knocked unconscious in the restroom, and tried to move but was sealed in a large black metal cylindrical case with knobs and lights flashing all around it, leaving only his head and shoulders exposed.

The only limbs that were actually secured to anything were his ankles, but he began to feel his magic draining from his body as two metal arm bands buzzed around his wrists.

"Agh! What the hell is this thing?" No warning was given as his head began to ring with loud noises. Greenmonte the scientist turned around and tried to hold back his enthusiasm.

"Ah the little rat's awake, or should I say… _Fairy_?" He implied with a grin.

Gray jerked around in his cell, and tried summoning up some ice. "You! You're that creep Greenmonte!"

"Calm yourself, boy! You'll want to save your energy. It appears my _Magical Draining Machine_ is working faster than I had anticipated."

"What is this this thing, and why the hell do you want my magic?"

Greenmonte laughed. "Are you kidding me? I've never come across and _Ice_ wizard before, and I appear to be missing that magic from my collection." He then flicked on a monitor from his computer and flashed through a few different colored screens.

"You see, I am what you would call a _Take-Over Wizard_. I hear there are a few of those in that lowly guild of yours. It's quite similar, only mine works a little differently...Mine is what you call, _Artificial Take-Over Magic_. It's magic that I can manipulate with different lacrima, and instead of taking over different beings and creatures, these machines allow me to take over different elements…and I can't wait to try out _your_ powers in my machines as well."

"AGH!" He yelled out, trying to peel the arm bands off his wrists from inside his cell. "Like there's a chance in hell I'd let you do that!"

As Gray began to twitch in his struggle he nearly passed out, but then he saw a large stream of water burst through the window, shattering it and knocking over Greenmonte.

" _Water Nebula!_ "

Gray felt his arms and legs being freed from the force of the water, and quickly rolled out of his cell by the turbulence of the mysterious magic. Yet as he laid there, he saw a dark blue figure standing in the empty windowsill.

It was none other than Juvia Lockster, who appeared to save Gray just in the nick of time. She threw a large vortex of swirling water toward her enemy, knocking him around the room, until she made it over to hug Gray.

"Oh, my love! I was so worried!" She sank down to her knees as she hugged his exposed upper body.

"Juvia?! What the hell are you doing here? " He asked in confusion." And how did you get here, anyway?!"

She blushed while grinning. "Well…it's a long story…"

( _*Flashback* to the same desert arena where Doranbolt dropped the glasses down to Happy_ )

 _"_ _Juvia, are you sure about this?" Doranbolt scratched his his head as he stood idly by._

 _He wasn't sure how she or Romeo made it aboard the ship in the first place, but once they found the two Fairy Tail Wizards, the councilmen scolded them for jeopardizing the mission._

 _Despite this, Juvia somehow convince Doranbolt to take her to the desert to try and break into the underground facility on her own. Doranbolt felt it would be a good test for them to see if troops could enter in that way as well, so he reluctantly agreed._

 _"_ _Oh yes!" She cheered "Thank you for telling me about this, and for helping me get here!"_

 _She continued jumping for joy and immediately turned into a flowing current of water to easily fall down the hole._

 _"Well...that was odd_ _."_ _Doranbolt paused for a moment and tried to collect everything he just experienced_ _as he teleported back to the command ship, and prepped for his own invasion of Oasis._

 _(*Back to the Present*)_

Gray immediately looked horrified after hearing the story. "So what, you just scaled the side of the skyscraper and climbed up to the window?!"

"Yes, and I did it for our love!" She proudly professed. "I knew I'd find you somewhere hidden away inside this horrible city, and my heart would act as the perfect compass!"

Gray looked confused, but ultimately accepted her situation. "Well…thanks, I guess."

She then pulled one of Cana's locator cards, complete with his face on it, out from her pocket. "Cana also gave me this back at the guild the day you left. I wanted to make sure you'd be alright."

"Juvia..." Gray climbed out of the metal cell and tried to get back on is feet. "Ugh...I..."

Just then Greenmonte stood back on his feet, only this time he was made completely out of shiny emeralds encrusting his entire body.

"You little brats will not ruin this experiment!" He yelled as he launched several emerald colored rocks toward Juvia.

"Water Slicer!" She cut through the flying rocks like a knife through butter, and quickly stood her ground as Greenmonte readied at the other end of the room.

A few water blades made contact with his skin, but only after he transformed into a gooey plasma-like substance that absorbed the water perfectly.

"It's useless!" He shouted back in his new state of matter. "You guild rats have no hope of besting me!"

He then transformed into a suit of pure iron and charged towards Juvia, who readied for the blow with a whip of her own water.

* * *

At that moment; Gajeel, Lily and Jellal were dancing around the fighting pits in the northeastern desert, while making sure to fake their attacks to trick the audience.

Jellal then stopped to explain. "So now do you understand the situation?"

Lily listened and nodded. "I see. These arenas lead straight down to Oasis, making them the easiest way to get into the system…That is unless you die on the way down."

Gajeel responded to that. "So what are you saying exactly? You gotta go down there and stop those lacrima from exploding _a.s.a.p._? Then what about us?!"

"Look" Jellal replied. "If you win the fight, they're rumored to grant you entrance into the nearest gate of the Lake. That's the highest honor they can bestow to champions. I'm not even entirely sure my way down is going to be safe..."

He then stopped his fighting and looked down into the darkness. "In the meantime, I will see you both down stairs."

Jellal jumped down the whole and ended the fight then and there. The crowd laughed and cheered, and two officials escorted Gajeel and Lily out of the arena. From there in their confusion, they made haste for the closest gate into Oasis.

After ending the fight and making it to the lake wall, they sat there and waited as the gate had no officials standing outside and appeared to be completely sealed shut.

Gajeel threw the paper given to him after their victory and shouted in anger. "Well that's a load of crap! Wonder what the big idea is…?"

Lily wanted to reply, but just then the two wizards both turned around and noticed twenty Oasis guards with magical electro-staffs fully charged and ready to fight.

"So our lead was right!" One of them shouted with laughter. "These boys are from Fairy Tail!"

Gajeel ignored their threatening remarks and looked towards Lily to laugh. "See…we getta fight someone after all."

* * *

As Gajeel and Panther Lily fought outside the northern edge of the lake, Lucy and Natsu sat in separate chambers in the back of their limo. The driver extended a divider between them, so they could change into their normal cloths.

After she finished tying back one of her two pigtails, Lucy looked out the window and thought deeply to herself. " _This is bad. I hope Eve is okay…that is, if we don't make it in time._ "

Then, the driver finally made it to a warehouse at the northeast corner of Oasis. On the back end of its lot appeared to be a large gate that was welded shut.

Natsu made no more room for waiting around, and quickly handed over a tip to the driver as he stormed out of the car and into the warehouse with his reckless as always expression.

"Alright! I'm through with all these creeps and their stupid lake!" Natsu seemed very angry, so much so that he nearly left Lucy behind in his dust.

"Natsu hold on!" Lucy followed behind him and yelled in discomfort as she observed her surroundings. "This isn't a good…!"

She stopped as Natsu made it through the door, but watched as he was immediately beaten down by two figures behind the threshold.

" _NATSU!_ "Lucy ran in after him screaming as she noticed the slapped something around his wrist, but soon after she was surrounded by guards as well.

She fought them for a short time, but eventually they subdued her by placing her own arms inside handcuffs infused with _Magic Sealing Stones_. Lucky for her, she was able to rustle away _ONE_ of her keys and stuffed it behind her belt. She had no idea which one she grabbed and panicked as they shoved her forward and put her with Natsu.

The two prisoners stood in totally confusion for a brief moment, until a very tall man stepped out from the shadows and grabbed both of them by the arms. He held Natsu up by his wrists in one hand, and Lucy in the other as she shot them both towards the wall, and pinned them into it with a large nail made entirely from magic.

They both began breathing heavily, and Lucy turned to notice an unconscious Eve was slung over a guard's shoulder off to the side. He and a group of others made way for a downward elevator in the back of the roo, and left Natsu and Lucy alone with a select group of guards, and two men standing in the center of the group.

"Agh! NO!" Lucy noticed Eve's captors trying to leave, and as a result tried to pry her hands free to run after them, all while Natsu began yelling at their own on-duty guards.

"OKAY WISE GUYS! Who the hell had the bright idea of putting these things around my arms!?" He was totally furious, because both cuffs around either arm subdued his magic thanks to the power of the old but effective sealing stones locked inside.

Just then the tall man who shot them into the wall turned and gave them his full attention. He stood with silver hair and red eyes, and finally made it over to the two wizards in wait.

As he stopped in front of them, them man eyed Natsu's aggression as a sign that Lucy would have to do the talking.

"You two...who are you, and why are you here?"

Lucy froze with fear, because she had no true answer to give him without revealing her own identity, or the jeopardy of Nigel's mission. Instead she remained frozen, and came up with something else.

"Where are you taking her?" She demanded, referring to Eve.

The man stood back and raised his eyebrow, and also used the opportunity to look his two captives over for any signs or clues. He then located a shiny collection of keys around Lucy's belt, but the real clue was found around Natsu's neck, which happened to hold his signature scarf.

The interrogator rolled his eyes and turned to his troupe of men. One of them was drinking out of a bottle of water, but found it quickly taken away as the boss man snatched it out of his possession.

He then splashed Natsu with the entire bottle, which caught both him and Lucy off guard until they both noticed his right arm was now showing his red guild emblem bright as day.

"You see that, men." He firmly stated. "We've caught ourselves some _Fairies._ " He then showed them all the now exposed guild mark that was made clearly visible from the water. Apparently he could see small traces of the emblem under the lacrima cream and sold the two wizards out.

The guards laughed as their boss kept a serious scowl on his face, and everything came to an end as a short ugly man followed him from behind.

"Oh Master Ferris, it's been a while since we've captured actual wizards!" The little man grinned with excitement. "Shall they go off to the mines, or do we need to hand them over to Greenmonte, first?"

Ferris tossed the water and looked them both over once again. He noticed Lucy had to be a Celestial Wizard, and figured Natsu was indeed the fabled Salamander of Fairy Tail. As a result he turned back to his assistant.

"Take the fire wizard to Greenemonte! He can use him in one of his lacrima projects."

"Wait a minute!" Natsu interrupted him as he began cracking a smile. "Hey Lucy that's the nut job Eve was telling us about! He's the one obsessed with metal! HAHAHA!"

"Oh yea!" Lucy tried playing along. "That must be Ferris, the Architect."

"Hmph." Ferris felt no amusement from their chatter, and turned to rip the nail holding up Lucy's hands right out of the wall.

He watched her fall, and then snapped at a set of guards to grab her. "As for the girl…take her to Master Arno's quarters. He'll make sure she tells us what we want to know from there...and I'm sure that boy of his will want to see her as well."

Lucy and Natsu both gasped, and as the blonde wizard tried to tear herself from the guards' hands, Natsu tried tripping his own arms off the wall in protest.

"Hold on metal head! Ain't no way I'm lettin' you take Lucy!"

Ferris ignored Natsu and continued talking with Milo. "Oh, she's a _Celestial Wizard,_ so all's we have to do is keep these keys out of her reach."

He grabbed the band of keys and the magical whip right off her waist, and left Natsu yelling in anger. Lucy yelled out as well the moment the items left her possession, but also noticed the guards were taking her into a new limo headed for the south.

"Natsu, _Please!"_ She yelled out with an annoyed by serious tone. "Stay Strong!"

Left in anger, Natsu noticed Ferris was also making his leave for the door, and just then he waved off the limo and let it leave, taking Lucy right along with it.

"I'm going outside. It seems we have a fair bit of riots happening in the fighting pits inside the desert." He gave Milo his last bit of news and quickly left the facility.

"AGH! GET BACK HERE!" Natsu was being dismounted from the wall and carried towards the same elevator as Eve right before him. _"LUCY!"_

He struggled fiercely in the hands of the guards, and just then the two sentry men felt their own hands begin to burn as they clutched Natsu's arms.

Soon after, they immediately dropped him in fear. "Hey, Mr. Milo…this one's getting pretty hot!"

Milo laughed and walked towards Natsu as he started scratching his chin. "Ferris did say those cuffs were getting old...but relax! Those _sealing stones_ should keep him at bay until we get him down stairs. From there we'll get him ready to…"

Just then Natsu erupted in flames which caught the whole room on fire. He then burnt off his metal cuffs and swung a flaming fist right at Milo.

" _GET OUTTA MY WAY!_ " He yelled with rage as he punched Milo into the wall, and subdued his only obstacle keeping him from leaving the warehouse.

After turning the corner, he barely caught Ferris getting into another vehicle, but Natsu made sure to send a raging ball of fire right for the limo, blowing it up, and leaving only he and Ferris standing.

Natsu followed that move with another threat. "All right you bastard, _WHERE'D YOU SEND LUCY?!_ "

"Well, aren't you a little runt?" Ferris laughed, and got into a stance similar to the one Gray uses for his own his _Ice Make_ spells. He then gave Natsu his official response. " _Metal Make: Razor Lance!_ "

The spell launched several large metal spikes at Natsu, and as they soared like automated buzz saws, they were individually burnt to ashes by the hand of brightly glowing fire.

" _FIRE DRAGON BRILLIANT FLAME!_ "Natsu yelled to engulf the scene with a large cloud of fire. He then stopped and geared up for a second attack as he also gave Ferris his next line of threats.

"I hope you know what you're doing! Messing with my friends is the LAST THING _YOU'LL EVER DO!_ "

* * *

 **Oh that Natsu! I really, really, really enjoyed writing his fighting scenes (with all the yelling and fire and subtle hints of Nalu.)**


	16. Chapter Fifteen-Fairies Assemble!

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter 15! The climax of the story is starting, and the battles are underway. and it's Friday!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen - Fairies _Assemble!_

* * *

Nigel sat around with a bored expression in the living room of the apartment as he tried messing with the TV remote. Yet as he started figuring it out, a new though occurred in his mind.

"Hey Cana…Where did _Eve_ go?"

"Umm..." Cana took her eyes away from the bar for just a moment as she let his question sink in. "Beats me. She probably ran over town?"

"Over town?" Nigel wasn't convinced, and just then a pair of new figures barged in from the elevator. It was Erza and Happy, and both looked very alert.

In fact, at the very same time they both yelled the same phrase. "WE NEED TO TALK!"

Cana nearly dropped a bottle of new liquor, and Nigel did drop his own drinking glass as the alcohol trickled along the floorboards of the apartment in a shattered frenzy.

"Damn it…" He muttered while sounding slightly depressed. "I actually bought that stuff _myself_ …What is it?"

Erza went to explain her question first, but Happy interjected. "Gray's in trouble! And I can't find Natsu and Lucy!"

That actually caused Nigel to stand up, and Cana to join them from the other room. She pulled out three locator cards with Natsu's, Gray's and Lucy's faces on them and tried to make sense of his concern.

It turned out, that Happy was right about Gray. "Actually, it looks like they're _all three_ in trouble."

Nigel looked to the window and took a hard seat on the couch. "Great…it's happening. I'm endangering my new friends…"

Erza then forgot her question and tried to take control of the situation. "Hold on! There's still time. We just need to split up and find them."

"Your right!" Nigel collected himself with the sound of her concern. "I'll pull up a map. Erza, if you don't mind, head back to the casino and see if you can help Gray. You're the strongest one here, and as Happy said we know for certain Gray is in trouble." He then turned to the other two. "The rest of us will go find Natsu and Lucy, since we're not 100% sure they're in grave danger."

Erza nodded and turned to leave, but suddenly stopped as she remembered her original question "Oh, but before I leave...What are doing sending _Jellal_ out on missions?"

They all paused and looked at Nigel, who turned away with slight discomfort. "Oh-ho…yea. I got a hold of him before we left. You guys _said_ he'd make a good addition…so I did my best to seek his help."

Erza replied instantly. "But why is he _here_? What are you having him do?"

Nigel explained with pace. "Reconnaissance…and he's my Plan B." He paused, but they let him continue. "I figured if none of us made it to the control room down in the basement, he would be able to get down there and figure something out."

She sighed in frustration and continued for the door. "We'll continue this later, I'm going after Gray!"

She then left the apartment room. The other three sat there following her departure as Happy was the first to speak up. "Nigel…you shoulda' lied."

"Whatever, we have to keep moving." He ignored it and grabbed his key. From there, Nigel, Cana and Happy made way for the door, but just then a house servant came up through the elevator to greet them.

This man was also with the resistance, and gave all three of them a smile as he took a bow. "Ah Nigel, I found you! I got word from your informant downstairs in the factories. He told us he's on the move toward the lacrima."

The man paused as Nigel looked totally lost. "…How did you know what he looks like? I never _told_ anyone about him?"

The man took a brief moment to collect the three dumbfounded faces before him, and tried to make sense of his own news. "Oh we weren't planning on running into him, but after we confronted him, the man and his team all showed us their _guild emblems_."

Nigel's eye began to twitch after hearing all the news. "…My informant isn't from _Fairy Tail?!_ And what team are you talking about!?"

 _~Meanwhile..._

At that time, Jellal Fernandes was walking through the depths of the Oasis Lake. He marched along the insides of a large covered walkway with a clear view of the underworld all around him, almost like a totally exposed fire escape that stretched across the entire lower compound. Within the dim lit view, he witnessed thousands of hard laborers working to preserve two giant lacrima crystals, the size of which could have fit into one half of the Oasis Lake itself.

"What could they be doing with two lacrima crystals of that size?" He asked himself as the two whole crystals took up the entire view, and just as he stood in disgust, several guards discovered his presence.

"Well, we found us a rouge warrior, boys!" There were roughly twenty of them, and every single one looked prepped for fighting.

"..." Jellal paused and summoned up a sizable magic circle, but just before he could react, the _Heavenly Body_ mage noticed a flash of light glowing behind his shoulders.

"Oh Yea! _Baryon Formation_ Babies!" A green laser flashed by Jellal and took out a large section of Oasis guards, and just as the cloud settled, a second flash of scattered yellow light followed soon after.

"Fairy Machine Gun: _Leprechaun!_ " A chorus of whizzing golden stars slammed into a second section of soldiers, and just as the remaining men tried running in fear for their life, a barrier of purple runes blocked their path.

"It's alright..." Uttered the solemn voice of Freed Justine. "I'll leave them to you, Laxus."

"Laxus?" Jellal stepped back and let the Thunder Legion pass him by, and right as the last of the guards actually continued trying to break through Freed's barrier, a crack of lightning crept all around the light bulbs above their head.

Everyone in the hallway turned to the opposite entrance of the walkway, and right as they all collected their eyes, a tall, blonde figure smirked between the clouds.

"Well well, didn't think I'd find you here, Jellal."

* * *

As Lucy Heartfilia was being brought into her next room she looked around in awe. Inside the apartment of the supposed master was a beautiful living room with a big bay window, equipped with a full view of the lake. It was all made entirely of white steel and furnished with all white furniture. The guards brought her into that very living room and removed themselves soon after, quickly tossing her roughly onto the couch.

"Agh! Rude much!" They left the room, and Lucy took that time to try and pry her hands free from their metal bonds.

After waiting a brief moment, a taller, older gentleman with black hair and streaks of white down the side appeared to greet her from the kitchen. He had on a tight white short sleeved sweater of sorts, and white pants with black shoes. He also held a brown drink in his hand and turned to look out towards the lake.

A long pause took the air, leaving Lucy both uncomfortable and angry at the same time. "Hey pal! What's the big idea?!"

The mysterious owner of the apartment complex laughed, and gave her no more than a nod. "Well this is no way to treat your gracious host, My Dear… or should I continue by saying _Miss Heartfilia_?"

"Eh? Y-You know my...?" Now she was scared. Lucy was usually pretty good at keeping her cool in moments such as this, but she knew it was time to stay calm and collected, now more than ever in the face of this mysterious enemy keeping her hostage.

She looked nervous, and tried shifting her hands in order to cover most of her belt, just to try and hide the gate key tucked under her cloths.

He took a moment before responding. "Do you think your continent is the only one that keeps track of competitions such as the _Grand Magic Games_? I like to keep tabs on all you _rats_ in Ishgar."

He finally turned away from the window and walked past the bar. "However, Miss Heartfilia, it humors me to see your reputation as a 'damsel in distress' chose to follow you all the way here, even down south in Oasis."

She shook with rage as he smiled with amusement. Lucy tried to make her reply. "Listen you creep, you better watch out! We're all over your filthy factory trying to shut you down this very moment!"

"Are you?" The man, now remembered by Lucy as "Arno Calvin", ignored her. "Well, I don't think you should be worrying about that, dear." He quickly finished off his drink and grabbed a black sport coat off the bar.

"I'm leaving for my colleague's office. It seems he has a guest of his own. Another one of you 'Fairies' wound up trapped inside his cage, and this one sounds even _colder_ than you are."

" _Gray!_ " she immediately though to herself with an alert expression taking her face. She looked up swiftly to yell back at Arno, but by now he was already half way out the door.

"I'll expect to see your other friends there soon as well. In the mean time I've sent my son here to keep you busy, after all you do appear to be his type."

* * *

Meanwhile back at the ware house, Natsu was originally putting up a good fight vs. Ferris, but at the current time he was instantly pummeled to the ground in a hard backlash of metal.

Ferris laughed hysterically as he looked over to the injured Natsu crawling around the back end of the field. "It's useless you fool! You're in _The Architect's_ hands now!"

Natsu rolled over in agony and laughed as he tried keeping his sense of humor. "Oh so you _are_ the one obsessed with metal? Hehe...Happy's gonna love hearin' this."

Ferris erupted with rage as he began sounding more and more crazed. "How _dare_ you mock me you little brat!...Don't you have any idea what sort of high level planning and creative engineering it takes to create a structure such as Oasis!? I've used hundreds of different types of metals in this facility's creation, and I will not let some low minded fool from a wizard guild talk me down!"

Natsu coughed and laughed again. "And now I understand what Lucy means…we do always run into the freaks."

The fire wizard tried sitting up, but failed as he decided to carry on speaking anyway. "Look...ergh...you're pretty powerful...b-but you're nowhere near as strong as the metal wizard I know!"

"Enough!" Ferris yelled out with frustration in his response. "I'll send you and the rest of those _Fairies_ to the depths!"

He tried to launch another set of spikes right for Natsu's head, but was immediately blown away by a large explosion coming out of the wall.

The smoke flew up in a large cloud, but as it settled Natsu heard a familiar voice coming threw the fog of a newly opened gate to the outside world.

"Hehe, Ya see that Lily? I told ya I smelled a _Salamander_ here!"

Just then, Gajeel and Panther Lily emerged from smoke, and as they stepped forward, the door of the open gate rolled shut behind them.

Natsu laughed and laid his head back in the dust as he grabbed his side in pain. "Agh...Boy I'm glad to see you…I found you a new friend, here. Hehe!"

"Oh so now I have to clean up after you? You really are weak, Salamander!" Gajeel kept grinning, and jumped out to extended one of his _Iron Dragon Clubs_ toward Ferris, who then turned his arms into solid metal just to block the attack.

Then, Lily slashed open a circuit that was attached the gate, and immediately created a large cloud of fire right out of the ceiling. Natsu rolled over and began eating the flames, and as soon as he finished, he got up and grabbed Lily by the arm.

"You're coming with me! We gotta go save Lucy!"

"Right." Lily had no idea what had just happened, but nodded and agreed. They both left Gajeel alone to face off with Ferris at the outside of the warehouse, and right then things were about to get intersting.

Ferris ignored the fleeing Fairies and kept an intrigued expression glued on his face. "So. you must be the Iron Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail. _Black Steel Gajeel_ is it?"

Gajeel laughed and cracked his own neck using his fists. "Listen, punk. I just spent three whole days trapped in some lousy desert with no one to fight but a bunch of mindless morons." He then looked around and noticed what kind of mess Ferris and Natsu made before his own entrance.

"You seem like a powerful guy. Let's just cut the chase! _Iron Dragon: Hard Fist!_ ""

He quickly lunged forward and shouted with might as Ferris met him in mid fighting stance, prepped with arms of steel to combat metal with metal.

* * *

Meanwhile, Juvia was landing one more blow to Greenmonte in his own new suit of steel, which also seemed like the lasting blow to end the fight she was currently in.

" _Water Cyclone!_ " She shouted as she slung him around the room, until the force threw him into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

The water mage bent down right away and released Gray from his prison. She then knelt beside him and gave him a smile. "Are you feeling any better Gray? I hope that victory was just enough to satisfy your every need!"

"Geeze..." Gray tried gaining the strength back inside his legs. He then smiled just for her sake. "I mean...that was a pretty kick ass fight."

Juvia smiled brightly, and went in to give him a tight hugging embrace, but just then she was immediately drained of her own strength and magic power to boot.

"Ugh! What is this?!" She tried standing after letting go of Gray, but it seemed like she was starting to succumb to the same issues he was feeling just moments before.

Then, as it slowly filled the room, Juvia turned to notice a black coat of fog was draining the magical energy right out of the lab. Its source was none other than Master _Arno Calvin,_ who emerged from the doorway and walked over to the wizards just like he promised Lucy moments before.

"My my, this is a surprise." He grinned and walked over to look at Juvia falling over, and then met his eyes with Gray's. "I was able to come across _two_ Fairies for the price of one! And this isn't even the Fire Wizard they promised me!"

He then bent down and took a lock of Juvia's hair with his fingers. "But then again, this lovely water mage will do even better..."

"A-agh...get...the hell away from her!" Gray cringed as he went to spin around and land a kick into Arno's shins, but the tall daunting man got to Gray first and buried his foot into the chest of the weakened _Ice-Make_ Wizard.

Gray coughed as Juvia tried to scream out in protests of her own, but Arno carried on kicking to increase his presence.

He then went to stomp on Gray for a finale hit, but was instantly stopped as a large metal sword landed right in front of his foot to shield Gray and Juvia from any further harm.

As he turned, he was greeted by another wizard from the Fairy Tail guild. "It would be wise for you to step away from my comrades."

It was Erza, and she immediately ordered her new enemy to lay down his arms in quite a demanding tone. She also extended out her right hand to replace her thrown sword with a new one, quickly readying for anything to come.

"Ah-hah." Arno sarcastically laughed and clapped his hands together as he turned in full. "This just keeps getting better and better. Now I have the lovely _Titania_ here to join her friends!"

Erza stood strong and bold. "Well, it looks like I won't be giving up any time soon. Unhand my friends and I will promise to go easy on you!" She went forward with her sword in hand, but stopped as Juvia yelled out a warning.

"Erza stop!" The frail _Water Mage_ coughed out in her weak state. "You...can't use hand-to-hand combat! He has some sort of energy drain…"

Erza was quick in her response. "Oh, is that so? Very well: _Re-quip!_ "

She stopped everything and re-quipped out of her standard _Hearts Kreuz_ armor, and quickly changed into her specialized _Lightning Empress_ armor, holding her lightning staff tightly in her grasp.

"I'll just have to defeat you at _range_ then." She threatened her enemy with a serious expression plastered to her face. "Now, I'll only say this once more. Unhand my friends, or fall by my blade!"

"We'll just half to play this out instead, and I'll be sure to add you to the collection of wizards lost to Oasis!" Arno laughed as his hands began to glow with large black shadows, and soon after Erza launched a counter, he released a large black cloud that was directed towards her surroundings.

* * *

 **Oh Titania! What can't she do? Chapter sixteen is next.**


	17. Chapter Sixteen-Fight! For our Friends

**Author's Note: Here's chapter sixteen, one of my favorite chapters to write. I love writing all the different spells.**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen - Fight for our Friends!

* * *

As Nigel, Cana and Happy left the apartment, they all made it to the southeastern corner under the lake. There, Nigel stopped the group just outside what appeared to be another gate that led to the outside desert. This gate was also sealed shut, just like the one Gajeel and Lily blasted through moments before in the north, only this one sat at the exact opposite corner of the facility.

It was there as they looked for scouts and guards that Cana stepped out from behind a wall and threw several yellow _Magical Cards_ at the sealed door. She quickly ran for cover and joined her friends to wait out the detonation.

"Nigel what are we doing, exactly?" Happy asked in a whisper as they prepped for a timed bomb to burst through the gate.

"Shhh." He responded as the yellow cards began to glow, causing a large explosion to break the door way, leaving it permanently open.

Then through the ruble, they were reunited with none other than the familiar faces of Wendy, Carla and Max, who used the opportunity to enter the city. Behind them in the desert village, hundreds of pedestrians and onlookers gazed in confusion at the entire scene, as this was the first time any of them had looked inside the regions below the lake and desert.

Carla was the first to speak up. "Well it's about time! Warren contacted you over an hour ago!"

"Carla! You're safe!" Happy yelled in joy before anyone gave her an actual response, and hugged her tightly, causing the poor white cat to become rather annoyed.

Nigel laughed after seeing their reunion. "Relax gang, we came just in time. Now let's hurry up and get down stairs before the guards get here."

"Oh, and one more thing!" Wendy spoke up. "Warren also said Lahar and his men are ready to storm the lake at any moment. So that should make things easy for us."

Nigel gave her a nod, and the others followed him along the path as he started laying out more details. "The roads are all sealed off, and we may be able to use the other underground routes to go find Natsu and Lucy, where ever they are." He pointed back at the wide open gateway. "Don't worry about that, either. We're just gonna let it hang open. The Rune Knights can make use of it."

Max interjected before they got too far along. "Hold on, I have to go down there, too? This desert is doing wonders for my powers!" He summoned up a whip of sand that hung outside the open gate doorway, and showed off his increased powers.

Nigel pondered, but Cana stepped up first. "Max, I'd stay here and make sure Lahar and the others arrive. You know the area around the desert by now, so they can probably rely on you as their guide into the city."

"Eh, sounds good to me!" Max agreed, and the rest of the group left him be as they began heading for a small elevator shaft that was left open nearby.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the tower on the eastern side of the lake, Lucy sat anxiously for her next host inside the apartment penthouse of Arno Calvin. As she sat there in wait, the blonde Celestial Spirit mage began struggling with her cuffs, trying to pry them off with random items that she found on the table.

"Urgh!" Nothing budged as she pulled harder and harder on the locks. "Dang it! Why can't they just come off already?!"

Although her hands were locked in front of her, the cuffs did not appear to want to break by any means necessary. She knew someone would be around to check on her soon, so it was that very reason that propelled her to work as fast as she could.

And just as she predicted, the door to the apartment room opened. From there came a tall, slender man with a muscular build and short, jet black hair. He was wearing a similar outfit to Arno, and even appeared to look like a younger version of the man with a similarly healthy physique.

He even had the same obnoxious grin, fit for any pompous leader of a overly active crime ring. Soon after entering through the door, he shut it and spoke his mind as his eyes turned forward.

"Well dad wasn't lying about you. You _are_ stunning!" He slicked back part of his already trim hair with one hand and walked towards her with a slow pace. "The name's _Reno_ Calvin. I'm the heir to this miserable lake…well as soon as my father and his colleagues take control of Ishgar."

Lucy shifted in her seat and said the first insult that came to her mind. "Oh, well aren't you just an adorable daddy's boy?"

He laughed and made a loud clap with both of his hands. He then stepped forward and noticed his encroachment caused Lucy to sit up off the couch and back away from him slowly, as if he was carrying a deadly disease. Lucy tried keeping her distance even in her amused state of mind as Reno spoke up.

"Oh my, pretty _and_ witty." He appreciated her attitude. "I'm glad he brought the smart one...though if you start getting too out of place I may need to shut you up."

Just then, he stepped forward once more, but at that same time, Lucy was finally able to rustle away the hidden zodiac key that was lodged beneath her clothing.

"Hold it right there, Creep!" She pointed the key in his face. "Unless you tell me where Natsu and the others are I'm not going anywhere!"

He laughed and shook his head. " _Celestial_ Magic? Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. Those cuffs won't let you summon any of your little friends here…" He then noticed a shimmering color of gold around the key and narrowed his vision. "...even if they are the _Zodiac._ "

"That's what _you_ think." Lucy also held a face of arrogance as she whipped her key several times throughout the air. "These cuffs are only restricting _my_ pool of magic, but I have several spirits that can pass through the gate on their own. All I have to do is send them a small ounce of magical power, and they'll do the rest!"

Lucy then realized which key she had, and grew slightly more confident with her final reveal. "…and unlucky for you, this one's always happy to lend a hand!"

Reno laughed out loud and rolled his eyes. "Unlucky? Listen here, Girly! I'm one of the greatest mages Oasis has to offer, and I know _Ruler's Magic!"_

He stepped forward, which nearly made Lucy run her back into the glass window behind her. Reno then raised his fists. "So go ahead and try to gain some energy, because it won't…"

Just then he stopped speaking as her key began to glow with a brilliant light, and then Lucy smiled and pointed it outward.

"Open Gate of the Lion!"

* _Ding-Dong_ * At that moment, a golden magic circle was summoned up through the ground, and out of the ring appeared Loke the Lion in his black suit and red tie.

He stepped back and gave the enemy no true respect. "Geeze, Beautiful, it's about time you summoned me here. I've been waiting quite a while now."

Lucy wanted to roll her eyes, but found no time to waste. "Sorry Loke, but now seemed like the best opportunity."

He raised both hands and shrugged. "Whatever you say, Gorgeous. Just let me take out the baddy real quick, and then you and I can run off like a knight saving his princess."

"Okay that one just about did it..." Lucy rolled her eyes and slapped her self in the face. "Look. These guys are bad news. They kidnapped Natsu and Gray! And Eve somewhere downstairs!"

Reno interjected. "Oh you know that tramp!? HAH! I'm surprised no ones offed her yet!"

"What did you say?" Lucy snapped forward, and even Loke curbed his attitude.

Reno carried on. "Don't get me wrong, she's a solid 10, and we even dated for a little while. But she got really annoying once that grandpa of hers died, and now she has way too many friends who aren't doing my father any favors."

"Oh I see..." Loke adjusted his glasses. "You're the kind of guy that throws away a girl once you find no more use for here." His fists even started to glow a bright shade of gold.

"It's punks like you that make me fight with a wizard like Lucy. Always treating others with no respect unless you deem them valuable. Let's just settle this once and for all before I start getting any angrier."

Reno laughed in response, and held up his fists in a similar motion to match Loke's. "Make my day, Lion. Make. My. Day."

Just then, his fists became encased in a dark, purple cloud of shadows, and his arms grew slightly larger in size as Loke prepped his own stance for a battle to unfold.

Finally, he widened his stance, and spoke loud and clear. "Step back, Lucy. And what ever you do, stay behind me."

"Loke..." Lucy never liked it when her spirits tried to act as her shield, but either way, she nodded and let him do his duty.

Soon after, Loke and Reno began stepped forward, and both swiped forward, landing hit after hit on one another to try and deal out any damage that they could. As the battle raged on, a small cloud of purple smoke was emitted from Reno's fists throughout the entire duration of the fight, and as it began filling the room, it slowly started draining Lucy's own personal energy.

She began panicking, and made a move for the door as Loke shifted in his battle to give her more room to move. Instantly, however, she collapsed right at the hallway towards the main door. As she tried lifting her hands up to grab the knob, her hand cuffs let out a small shock to remind her that she was still a prisoner inside the apartment.

This shock not only hurt her, but it also affected Loke as well, and as it grew more and more intense, it even began sending him back through his gate.

"What the hell!?No! _Lucy!_ " He clawed at the air, and ran for his master's fallen body, but was cut off instantly and sent back to the _Spirit Realm_.

Reno laughed as the light faded away, and slowly walked over towards Lucy and the door. He shot out a second cloud into the ceiling, to better fill the room, and started howling at the top of his lungs. "Amazing! You're not even strong enough to keep your friend around!"

Lucy tried crawling towards the door, but Reno stepped forward and placed the bottom of his shoe right on her head, and softly pressed down to give her just enough of a head ache as he teased her even further.

"Maybe you won't be so hard to keep after all...I think it's time I start the real interrogation, an we'll start by asking why the hell you bothered coming to Oasis."

"Agh...Eve... _*cough*_...Gray..." She began coughing and crying in pain, thinking about all her friends who needed her to win this fight, but just as Reno lowered his hand to grab her by the collar, a figure threw opened the door behind her.

The man then grabbed her by the hand cuffs, and burnt the metal bands and sealing stones all to a crisp.

Lucy looked up with tears in her eyes and saw a familiar face standing before her, fit in all his rage.

" _...Natsu._ " was the last person on her mind. She was sure he was being taken to the depths of Oasis, or eve to that creepy lab where Gray was being held prisoner. Either way, she lowered her head, and cracked a faint smile as he stepped over her and into the room.

Natsu, on the other hand, was far from smiling. His eyes looked ready to kill as his fists began to light up with brilliant red and orange flames. Finally, as he entered into the room, he gave Lucy a similar wish to Loke's, just before he carried out his duty.

"Get behind me, Lucy…"

She fell behind, and leaned against the wall to watch her friend Natsu barrel forward with anger and flame. Reno laughed and began covering his whole arms in shadow, topped off with two shadowy blades extending out from his forearms that looked like they could cut through anything, including flesh.

He then swiped his blades at Natsu and yelled out in pride. "Oh! This is that Dragon Slayer my father was talking about...the _Salamander._ "

He then summoned his own magic circles once again and prepped to challenge Natsu head on. "Perfect! I'll just have to deal with him, too..."

Reno tried hitting Natsu, but the Fire Dragon was too quick for the _Dark Arts_ mage. Natsu began swaying back and forth, and dodged each attack without using an ounce of magic, or even making a single swing of his own.

"Stay still you little brat!" Reno began threatening his opponent again, but as he started speaking, Natsu grabbed him by the blade under his right forearm. He engulfed it in flames, and shattered it like it was made of glass.

"What the _HELL?!_ How did you…!?" Reno cut himself off mid sentence as Natsu grabbed him by the collar, and held a fist of open fire in his open hand.

"AGH! THIS IS FOR _EVE_ AND HER FAMILY!" He smashed his fist right into the cheek of Reno, and let the fire stay on as he geared up for a second hit.

"AND THIS ONE'S FOR _NIGEL!_ AND _GRAY!_ AND ANYONE ELSE WHOSE LIFE YOU'VE TRIED RUINING! THIS IS FOR _ALL OF THEM!_ "

Blow after blow, Reno could barely breath through the fire and smoke as the flaming fist kept up is contact with his cheeks, and just as the blows came to an end, Natsu prepped himself for one final attack.

"AND THIS ONE! THIS IS FOR _LUCY!_ "

He yelled loudly and he punched Reno with his open hand of fire, sending him and all the shadows out the window and into the lake below, breaking the glass into thousands of pieces and ending the fight then and there.

Natsu then let out a large roar, fit for any dragon, and released a intense amount of magical energy as he tried recollecting his thoughts.

Then he stopped to catch his breath and turned around, noticing Lucy was slowly gaining her magic power back. He grabbed her by the hand, pulled her up and hugged her.

"Did he hurt you?" His eyes looked serious, and his concern even more

Lucy shook her head and smiled gently, still thinking about him being captured downstairs the last time they saw each other. " _Natsu_ …"

She had to stop right there, because at that moment they were interrupted by Panther Lily, who came running up the hallway.

He caught his breath and sheathed his massive sword behind his back. "Sorry for interrupting but we have to go, we can't stay here for too long."

He stopped and turned to smile as he handed Lucy several objects. "Oh I almost forgot, the reason I'm running here is because I ran into some guards down the hall. I think you'll be needing these back, Lucy."

He handed over her gate keys and her _Fleuve d'étoiles_ whip, which caused her to smile and nod in delight. "Thanks, Lily! I was worried I lost them!"

He took her thanks and replied. "Alright you two, let's make our way down to the basement. We've got a giant lacrima to contain."

They both followed him into the downward elevator, and set off t=for their final mission of the trip.

* * *

 _~Meanwhile, throughout the other chambers of Oasis..._

Gajeel was just finishing up with his fight with Ferris, who unknowingly began using _actual iron_ in his _Metal-Make_ spells earlier in the battle, instead of other metals.

This wasn't the smartest strategy possible when fighting a Dragon Slayer who eats metal for a living, and Gajeel was about to teach him that very important lesson here and now.

" _HAH!_ Are you stupid or what?!" Gajeel boasted with glee as he began eating the metal blades that were shot at him by Ferris, absorbing the pure magical energy within the iron and gearing up for his own counter attack in the process.

" _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"_ Ferris cried out with utter confusion. "That metal is my pure concentrated magic!How dare you eat it like its some sort of late night snack!"

"Whatever pal..." Gajeel felt the powerful surge of new magic taking over his body, and just then he wiped his mouth and looked forward. "It's about time I finished kickin' your ass once and for all! FOR _FAIRY TAIL'S_ SAKE!"

He then clapped his hands together and shouted in rage as his powerful legs shot his body into the air and hovered right over Ferris's head. " _Dragon Slayer's Secret Art! KARMA DEMON: IRON GOD SWORD!_ "

Then he spawned a large, iron dragon blade that reached up to the ceiling. With one fell swoop he swung it toward Ferris, slamming him into the wall and knocking him unconscious.

Gajeel looked down at his opponent's fallen body with a loud chuckle in his voice. He then spat out a few chunks of un-eaten iron. "By the way, your iron tastes like garbage."

He then finished up his laughing and left for the elevator in the nearby ware house.

At the same time, Erza Scarlet was facing the climax of her dual with Arno Calvin, and things in this dueling ring were getting just as interesting.

"Why won't you fall!?" Arno tried launching several clouds of pure _Ruler's Magic_ in her direction, but the Fairy Queen quickly avoided each one in her very light-weight _Lightning Empress_ armor and rolled away in safety.

She rolled across the floor, and shot several more beams of electricity at Arno chest, leaving him shortly paralyzed and frozen in his fight.

" _NO!_ " He yelled out in frustration. " _My_ magic is supposed to stop _you!_ What have you done!?"

He looked at Erza in horror as she stood up and raised her right hand over her hand, and began summoning a new set of lights and weapons.

"In the name of my friends, and _Fairy Tail_ , I'm ending this here and now!" The Knight was ready to call this battle said and done, and as Arno cowered in his petrified state, she began her incantation.

"Re-quip: _Heaven's Wheel!_ " The Armored Titania yelled as she left her _Lightning Empress_ robes and changed into her legendary armor of the heavens. She ran towards Arno's paralyzed body with full force and slashed him with a large star-shape strike.

" _Pentagram Sword!_ " Erza cried out her spell as she finished her attack, and Arno fell to the ground limp and defeated, drained completely of his magic energy.

Gray and Juvia could now feel their limbs slowly gaining more strength, and both allies began standing up.

"Hey, I feel a lot better now." Gray stretched his bare arms upward to relax his back. "Thanks a million Erza!"

"Yes, I can feel my arms and legs as well!" Juvia rang out with excitement, although she seemed more excited to see Gray's shirtless body after leaving his cell. She then shook her head and snapped back into reality. "I-I mean...thank you, Erza."

Erza smiled politely and changed back into her _Heart Kreuz_ armor as the others joined her near the door. "Gladly, though we should all save our celebration for after we finally leave here in one piece."

They both nodded, and followed her to the door. But as the three of them went for the, Arno shouted back from his lowly spot on the floor.

"You _Fairies_ are in over your heads…this place is taking you all to the depths when we finally _pull the trigger_."

Erza stepped forward to hear him better, but by that time he had fallen over unconscious. Then she and the other two looked on in fear and turned for the exit once more, looking for their final pathway into the depths of Oasis to join their allies in the final fight to come.

* * *

 **Personal opinion: If I had to pick my favorite moment to write in the story, it would probably be Natsu stepping in to help Lucy.**

 **Chapter's Seventeen and Eighteen tomorrow!**


	18. Chapter Seventeen-The Bonds We Share

**Author's Note: Okay! I finally made it around to upload these next two chapters! I had a very busy day, and I have a very busy night following this stuff...Anyway I hope you enjoy!**

 **(Side note 1: We got a new FT Anime episode _AND_ a new Manga chapter all in one day!?)**

 **(Side note 2: I watched that _Interstellar_ movie recently with some friends...very interesting decision on my part. Watch it if you haven't seen it.)**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen - The Bonds We Share

* * *

As they made it through the dark tunnels of the underground, Jellal, Laxus, and the members of the Thunder Legion began talking with one another about their personal experiences inside Oasis.

"So let me get this straight!" Laxus tried to control his grinning expression. "You came in to help Nigel up top? And you had to stage a fight with Gajeel and that cat of his?"

Jellal, who left out the actual reason he came to help Nigel in Oasis, sighed and looked on. "Yes, and I felt terrible for the first half of our fight. Judging by their expressions, they almost weren;t sure if it was me or not attacking them."

"That's barbaric." Evergreen rolled her eyes and followed behind with the others. "Why not just tell Fairy Tail you were planning on coming in to help?"

Jellal slowed his steps and nearly coughed up on his own words. "I-It's not that simple...there are certain people I came to protect here in Oasis…Besides, Nigel promised me a large reward. Being a member of a private guild, we can use all the funding we can get."

"That's right." Freed replied. "I almost forgot you helped Fairy Tail in the games as a member of Crime Sorciere. I suppose you were also looking for black magic here in Oasis?"

"Not entirely." He explained. "Though I do despise what the rulers of Oasis are responsible for, my original intention was just that, to protect and old friend present in Nigel's party."

Bickslow howled. "Well, I'm not sure which nut job your friends with in our guild, but I can already say I feel sorry for ya!"

" _Don't be. She's an old friend_."

Is the phrase he wanted to say, but instead he responded with something else. "Don't be. I've actually made friends with most of the guild's members, including many of my fellow members of _Fairy Tail Team B_." He then looked turned right towards Laxus.

Bickslow didn't know who the person was, but Laxus seemed to have some sort of clue as he started raising his eyebrow. Then, he changed his thought. "We'll I can bet it's not Gajeel or Lily. If it were me up there, I woulda smacked their asses down here, and made them walk around in the sewer."

Jellal laughed, and then turned forward once again. "So tell me, what brings the four of you to follow after Nigel in Oasis?"

The S-Class Wizard then began explaining how he picked up a job flyer addressed from the Magic Council in the Guild Hall a few after the first group left. _Apparently_ , after leaving his grandfather's office, Laxus made the call to prep himself and the Thunder Legion for a trip to Oasis, but only if Nigel and the Council truly needed it.

After explaining their story, the group of five came across a room with two windows on each end, where you could get a good view of both crystals on either side, almost like an observation pit of sorts.

"So, how do we stop these things?" Bickslow asked. "Those things could fit inside Magnolia's lake."

Evergreen stepped forward to gain a better view. "Well I'm sure Laxus can send one of his lightning bolts right down the center, and blow them up right here."

"That is possible." Freed noted. "But what if we can't afford to let them explode. I imagine lacrima of that size would set out a cataclysmic explosion."

"Yea, and add that to the fact that there's two of them." Laxus tried clearing his mind, and then remembered Jellal may have an idea. "So what orders did Nigel give you once you made it down here?"

Jellal went to speak, but suddenly the group of rogue wanderers were interrupted as two extra doors to the upper levels slammed open, revealing a set of very familiar faces.

From the two doors in total came Nigel, Cana, Wendy, Happy, Carla, Gajeel, Natsu, Lucy, Lily, Gray, Juvia and Erza, all flooding into the same room as Jellal and the Thunder Legion, and each coming in from different directions.

Nigel stopped and looked around as he let out a faint laugh. "Well isn't this funny? The gang's all here..."

"NATSU!" Happy ran toward his life long friend with comedic tears gushing out of his eyes, and together they hugged it out.

Lucy meanwhile looked over to Juvia in total confusion. "Hang on. When did you get here, Juvia!?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know, _Love Rival_?" Juvia snapped at Lucy in her response, and leaned over to clutch Gray's muscular right arm in her grip. "It just so happens I came to save my beloved Gray from danger!"

Gray turned away in embarrassment. "You don't have to say it like that!" He then gave Lucy his full attention. "We're fine. Erza came in and ended that Arno creep, and Juvia handled Greenmonte pretty well by herself."

Erza would have grinned with pride after hearing Gray admit her heroic deeds, but stopped in shock as she finally earned a chance to confront Jellal. "What are you doing here? I heard you were out in the desert!"

Jellal took of his mask. "I could ask you the same thing. This mission was far too dangerous for you to pursue. You could've gotten killed or worse…"

He was then cut off as Erza leaned in to give him a tight hug.

"I heard you went out in the desert. Don't _EVER_ scare me like that again!" She continued to hug him, making him slightly blush in confusion.

Bickslow and Evergreen laughed after seeing Jellal reunite with Erza, while Freed and Laxus stepped up to confront Nigel.

Freed spoke first. "Those lacrima are far to large to set off an explosion. I suppose you'll have to detonate them from the inside if you wish for them to take damage."

"I guess you're right." Nigel leaned on the railing that overlooked one window to the lacrima on the left, and as Cana, Wendy, and Carla sat in silence to let him think, Natsu pounded his fists together to loudly address the group.

"Okay, I don't know how any of you guys made it down here, and I'm not even sure what _you losers_ are even doing doing here!" He was addressing the four members of the Thunder Legion, and all including Laxus ignored his remark.

Natsu continued. "But as of right now we gotta stop those things from going off!"

Nigel responded from his spot by the window. "This isn't gonna be easy. So how about we split into two groups. I'll form the…"

He went to lay out a very detailed plan that involved blowing up both lacrimas, but just then just then he was interrupted by Laxus cracking his knuckles and heading in the opposite direction.

"Yea, guys. This is fun and all, but we're actually here on our own business." He then stopped and waited for his three body guards to form up as he turned to look right at Nigel and Natsu. "So how's about we take the left one out on our own, and leave you guys with that one over there. We'll make a race out of it and meet on the surface when it's all said and done."

He turned and gave Natsu his full attention. "If you guys think you're up for a challenge?."

Natsu grinned and stepped up to Laxus, pounding his flaming fists together as he took the challenge head on. "You're on, Laxus! Last team to blow up their Lacrima owes the other group lunch first day back at the guild hall!"

Laxus let the Thunder LEgion walk past him into the door, an gave Natsu a final nod before following in himself.

Nigel paused after the ordeal and tilted his head. "Okay…that solves that, I guess..."

"Yea? Well we better get going before Natsu starts throwing a hissy fit..." Lucy sighed and took the door knob into the opposite lacrima chamber. "Just tell us where to go, Nigel!"

He laughed and nodded, expecting nothing less from his new, rowdy Fairy tail friends. However, as they made it half way down the ramp, the entire group ran into a swarm of Oasis guards.

Nigel yelled as he hurled his own small spells toward the enemy. "Okay, new plan! Try to get around the guards, and who ever meets in the chamber can work together to stop the crystal!"

Erza agreed, but noticed things were getting too swarmed for everyone to leave at once. "There's not enough time! Split the group in half. Those staying with me can clear out the rest of the guards!

She slammed her swords into the head of oncoming Oasis guards, and as everyone began wondering in confusion, Gajeel, Lily, and Jellal seemed to volunteer to stay behind.

"The rest of you guys can run along with your little crystal!" Gajeel yelled out with a teasing voice. "We got these guys from here!"

The other mages had no choice to agree, and made it passed all the fighting in order to head down through the door. When they finally made it into the first giant lacrima chamber, each member of the group was left in awe.

"How cow!" Natsu yelled. "It's huge!"

"I'll say!" Happy agreed. "That thing could power like five Towers of Heaven!"

"Are you two blind!?" Lucy yelled out and pointed at dozens of flashing red lights. "This place is about to blow!"

"No kidding!" Gray said in shock and looked right at Juvia. "That Arno guy wasn't lying when he told Erza this place was set to explode!"

Apparently by the last second orders of Master Arno, the Oasis officials had truly let out an alarm for evacuation due to expected detonation of the crystals. This is because they knew the Magic Council would be on their way, and they planned on 'nuking' the entire system before anyone got their hands on it, or the compound of slave laborers below.

"We have to find a way to destroy it soon!" Wendy yelled. "What if the whole place blows and traps us inside!?"

Carla flew around behind. "I'm not sure we'd be trapped inside as living victims! There's got to be a control panel of sorts that monitors the input and output of magical energy!"

From there the entire _Fairy Tail_ group all began wondering around the empty room in panic looking for any control panel large enough to halt the explosion.

"Damn it!" Cana yelled out after checking her corner. "There's not even pipes or anything sending out magic!"

Just then, they all looked u to a series of air ducts, and out from the vents came a large shadow that slowly filled the room. From the grey, purple, and black smoke emerged _Reno Calvin_ , who now had a head of all white hair and a sinister look in his eye as he entered the room through the vent in the ceiling.

He looked ready to fight, and even more ready to earn his own revenge as his hands were pulsing with black magic.

"THIS ISN'T OVER YOU DAMN LITTLE FAIRIES! I'M GOING TO SAVE THIS PLACE, ANS SHOW MY FATHER NO PESKY GUILD RATS CAN EVER TAKE THIS OPERATION DOWN!"

He slung a large cloud of black smoke, and aimed it right towards the group, but just as it came into contact, Wendy blew it away with a whip of her very own wind magic.

" _Sky Dragon_ _ROAR!'_ " She yelled with fierce tenacity as a whirlwind of air blew the shadows away, and gave the Fairies just enough time to form a counter team.

Reno began charging for another attack, and prepared for any amount of Fairy Tail wizards to step up and challenge him in the process. At the same time, Nigel stepped in front of the group and summoned one of his _Prism Beam_ spells to perform a second magical counter.

"Three Sided Magic Prism: _LIGHT TRIO!_ " He launched a large white triangular beam infused with fire, light, and electrical lightning all towards Reno, who met him half way with a condensed beam of black magic.

Reno jolted from the hit, but left it unscathed, an although Nigel blocked the beam in its entirety, the blast sent him flying backwards and even gave him the worse end of the deal.

" _NIGEL!_ " Wendy yelled and tried running towards him, but she had to hold her ground as Reno sent out a second wave of magic power.

Natsu and Gray finally made it over to step up and fight, and as Lucy and Happy were trying to find the control panel, Carla and Cana lowered themselves by Nigel's side.

"I'm good." He softly explained as he sat there in slight pain. Despite his scratches, he appeared to still be grinning "Just give me a minute to catch my breath."

Reno began to laugh and sent off Wendy, Gray, and Natsu with a wave of his shadows. "Is this the legendary _FAIRY TAIL_ in action?! No wonder you all never bothered coming here before? You're all pathetic!"

"Try shuttin that mouth of yours before I knock you on your ass for the second time!" Natsu jumped up, but received a large blow to the side as Reno slammed him into the nearby wall.

Reno rolled his eyes and settled himself as he looked on towards the injured Nigel. "It's funny...I almost wonder if you even bothered to tell them."

"What?" Cana stood up from Nigel's side. "What kind of crap are you trying to spread now?"

Reno shrugged with arrogance and laughed. "Nigel's only the richest man in Ishgar because he made all his money selling us ships! The idiot was basically our personal merchant!"

"Agh!" Natsu jumped up through a cloud of fire and launched a fist right for Reno's face. "That's a filthy lie!"

No kidding!" Gray agreed and shot off hundreds of large ice mad spikes. "You losers had to steal his ships from Hargeon just to get quality boats!"

Reno cracked Gray's ice with ease, and sent a shock wave of shadow energy throughout the room, all the Fairies lost their footing, and just as Happy made it over to the others, he and Carla grabbed Nigel's injured body and listed him off the ground.

"Are you okay, Nigel?" He asked with caution. "You gotta tell this guy the truth!"

"The truth..." Nigel coughed through his pain. "The truth is...he's right."

"What!?" All his allies from Fairy Tail allies in his immediate area stopped what they were doing and let him sit up to explain.

"I was young...and stupid. I tried selling my fleets to anyone that offered to buy them. I knew Arno from the west. He gave me good deals for selling in the south seas." He then smacked his fist in the ground, nearly breaking it on the stone floor. "BUT THESE MONSTERS LIED TO ME! They never told me what they do here in Oasis, and by the time I figured it out..."

"What?" Cana asked. "By that time...?"

"Nigel had no choice to finish that thought. "By that time, it had already been three years."

"HAH!" Reno nearly fell out of the air as he tried to hold his chest. "He supplied us for three years before finding out what we do! What kind of businessman just sells to random people like that!?"

"Nigel?" happy lowered himself to the ground with Carla. "Is that true...?"

"..." Nigel paused to lower his head, and turned it to the side. "That's why I got into it with the magic council. I had to let them know I didn't do anything wrong, and I needed to be the one to end Oasis's crime lords myself."

"But you DID!" Reno shot out a black lightning bolt of Ruler's Magic right for Nigel and the crowd of Fairies, and Wendy barely fond time to wave it away. Reno continued. "You're still guilt by association! Go ahead and bring us in for custody! Tell them we've been using slave labor to power a fleet, but don't you lie to them and say you weren't our greatest supplier. Don't you tell them your fortune is pure."

Cana looked won at the now pathetic Nigel. "Nigel, is that why you were so uncomfortable with showing off your money?"

Nigel never answered, and instead looked up at the now weakened Wendy, Gray, and Natsu. He was now not only responsible for the rise of Oasis, but also for all the trouble he caused his new friends in Fairy Tail.

He needed anything in the world to help him make it up to them. He needed a miracle.

"NIGEL! IT'S OKAY!"

Everyone, including Reno Calvin, looked over to the far end of the chamber, and the foot of the lacrima. There, Lucy Heartfilia was managing a new monitor that controlled the flow of magic into the large lacrima crystal.

With her was Eve. She apparently made it out of her mess with the help of Erza and the others, and made her way downstairs to help the main group disarm the full system explosion.

Lucy carried on. "We know you're good! My dad would have made sure of that when you worked with him in Acalypha! I know you're trying to make up for your mistakes!"

Eve spoke up as well. "I know you're good too! My grandfather started his movement because of people like you, and Fairy Tail. He knew people in this would would come and help if he only opened up his doors to let them in!"

"LIES!" Reno yelled and sent a wave of shadows right for their platforms. "You're grandfather was insane the moment he knew he was dying! He had no idea what we were doing with Oasis, and if he did he would have let us walk right over the world!"

"You're wrong!" Eve yelled as she and Lucy ducked to dodge his attack. "My grandfather never resented Ishgar like your father did. In the end, he realized Oasis needed to be taken down!"

"Oh?" Reno rolled his eyes and charged up for his second, and even more powerful attack. "Well if you're so sure that he was a good man, than it's a good thing he isn't around to STOP US!"

He began to cast an extremely large black magic spell on the whole entire group, nearly half the size of the crystal, that is until Natsu jumped up and met him in the air.

"TIME TA SHUT YOU UP LIKE I PROMISED! _FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!_ " The Salamander yelled as he head butted Reno right in the chest, and engulfed all his black shadows in flames to quell them out of existence.

As Reno began to fall, he was also hit by another _Fairy Tail_ attack, only this one was as cold as solid ice.

"ICE-MAKE: _ICE BRINGER!_ " Gray shouted as spawned two large jagged swords and slammed them into Reno. "I'M TIRED OF HEARING YOUR CRAP TOO! THIS PLACE IS GOING DOWN WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

Reno took the hit, but swiftly landed on his feet and continued casting his spells as the three men battled it out entirely.

Nigel looked in awe as he sat there with Cana. She looked confused as his expression changed from sorrowful to bewildered.

"Nigel? What's wrong?" She asked with hesitation.

"My god..." He explained with a laugh, still feeling sore from the hit he endured. "...t-they're amazing!"

Since he had never seen them fight in person before, Nigel was blown away by the beautiful chemistry of Natsu and Gray's attacks, each one'shit complementing the others in a flurry of perfect ice and fire.

Meanwhile, Lucy, and Eve found enough time to man the controls, and were attempting to override the system while Natsu and Gray handled Reno.

"Come On!" Lucy yelled as she bashed the keys in to activate the control panel. "We have to stop the whole place from blowing up!"

Eve smiled on her end, however, and pulled up a new control through the monitor. "Well, I found one way to do it, but..."

Meanwhile, back over towards the fighting, Reno made his last charge of black energy and laughed hysterically as he floated over Natsu and Gray, all while the other Fairies were nursing their own wounds or resting their magic power.

"YOU CAN'T TAKE OASIS DOWN!" He cried hysterically. "WE'LL DEVOUR THE ENTIRE WORLD! STARTING WITH ISHGAR!"

"I DON'T THINK SO!" Natsu yelled and landed right beside Gray. "TIME TA DRAIN THIS LAKE ONCE AND FOR _ALL!_ "

"Come on!" gray shouted as he charged up a blue magic circle underneath his feet. Natsu did the same, and together the two Fairy Tail Wizards stood side by side, and as Natsu extended his right arm into a fist, Gray extended his left.

"TIME TO USE A _UNISON RAID!_ " They chimed off together in pure anger as the circles underneath their feet synced into one larger oval. Then, a vortex of fire and ice shot out of their arms and nailed Reno right in his chest, knocking him back and engulfing him with flames and frost.

From there, Reno Calvin was completely knocked out, drained of all his magic power.

"Hell yea!" The two wizards cheered and celebrated as they ran back to the group, unusually high fiving one another for the other's performance.

However, as they came back to the main group, they returned only to hear bad news ringing from the system's digital intercom.

*BEGINNING LOCK DOWN SEQUENCE: SEALING _ALL EXITS_ INSIDE LACRIMA CHAMBERS*

Then all the doors into the room were sealed completely shut, leaving no way out. Even worse, Lucy and Eve had run out of options with their own controls to open up an escape route for themselves and the others.

As they made it back to the others, Lucy tried keeping spirits high. "Well, the good news is we took the magic charge off the lacrima..."

Eve continued in her stead. "…The bad news, though, is we had no choice but to redirect the explosion to the control panel. It won't be strong enough to detonate the lacrima…but I'm afraid we're trapped."

"Wait!" Happy yelled. "But we want to destroy the lacrima! Right?"

"Not if it's gonna blow us up with it!" Lucy explained. "Look, it was the only way. We felt Laxu's blast right as we found the panel, and I'm surprised his didn't blow the whole lake open!"

"NO WAY!" Natsu shouted in anger. "THAT MEANS THAT JERK IS GONNA WIN THE BET WE HAD!"

"I find that's totally irrelevant that this time!" Carla yelled out. "So how are we supposed to get out before the explosion?"

Nigel stopped her there, and stood up after Wendy finished healing his wounds. "We won't… we'll let the explosion rip open a door to get us out of here."

WHAT!?" Everyone looked at him like he was totally, insane, but just then he looked up, and let a brief smile take his once disappointed face.

"I never mentioned this, but that Master of yours lent me one small gift before we left Magnolia." He walked forward with newfound ease. "I was actually training with him for spells to defend us in case we found ourselves in this situation, and it turns out, he was absolutely right..."

"Right?" Cana asked like he was going insane. "Right about what?"

He looked at her and grin. "I'd have to be around my friends for this next spell to work...Everyone GET BEHIND ME!"

At that moment the remaining _Fairy Tail_ wizards crouched below Nigel as he stood with two fists extending outward, and his feet at shoulder's width apart. He began by summoning a series of golden rings, seals of sorts to match the level of the explosion. He then followed by crossing his arms before him with the fists clenched.

"MAXIMUM DEFENSE MAGIC: _THREE PILLAR GODS!_ "

This incantation prompted three ethereal pillars composed of dark seals to appear from up under the ground, two before Nigel, at his sides, and one behind the others. This very same spell was used in the Fairy Tail Guild's battle on Tenrou Island seven years ago. It appeared strong enough to protect Makarov from the effects of Hades' _Amaterasu Formula 100_ , which engulfed a large part of Tenrou Island in an explosion, with Fairy Tail's Master receiving only minor injuries.

Yet as the pillars were being set, the lacrima's panel received the final command from the system to fully light off, and explode throughout the chamber. Fire and smoke engulfed the entirety of the room, and as the roof and lacrima managed to avoid major damages, the rest of the area took the full blow.

Then, as seconds passed and the explosion subsided, Nigel released the pillars and passed backwards out immediately due to magical trauma, feinting as his head smashed against the back of the ground.

* * *

 **Okay! Nigel was able to go next level. Cool!**

 **It's a really interesting concept using that Maximum Defense Seal because Makarov was the only one to use it, and we never saw the effects. So hopefully it fits!**

 **Chp. 18 next!**


	19. Chapter Eighteen-When it's all done

**Author's Note: Here's the final "regular chapter!"** ** _BUUUT!_ There is still the epilogue too! SO STAY TUNED IF YOU ARE READING THIS STORY!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

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Chapter Eighteen - When it's All Said and Done

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As Nigel woke up from his long rest, he found himself lying in some sort of an infirmary bed that swayed back and forth. He had to be aboard one of the Magic Council's ships, and as a result slowly opened his eyes to see the environment around him. He was also wrapped up in bandages and had a lacrima I.V. strapped into his left arm.

He looked to the left and out the window of his room, and appeared to see nothing but pure ocean waves, rolling back and forth. Just then, he heard a knock at his door which interrupted his silent moment and ended as the door fell open.

It was Lahar and Doranbolt, and one after the other they slowly stepped into his room to greet him.

Nigel looked up and smiled faintly from his overly soft pillow. "Hey gang…Sorry we took so long."

They both laughed and walked over towards his bed, and Lahar was the first to speak. "We heard what happened in the Lacrima Chambers. That was mighty impressive for you and your team to stop the explosions."

He then turned toward the windows with a serious expression. "I guess when the news of their collapsed blockade reached the lake; it was only a matter of time before they would decide to pull the plug on the whole operation."

Nigel leaned up and turned his head toward the two men. "So what happened to our delinquents, anyway?"

Doranbolt chose to respond. "With the exception of _Ferris the Architect_ , we managed to round up all of the other leaders of Oasis; including the leader's son, Reno, who somehow made it through the explosion..."

Nigel's eyes widened, and Lahar turned toward his bed. "Yes, that one had an awful lot to say about you...apparently we overlooked it before, but all the Oasis fleet ships are marked with ANT logos."

Nigel slammed his head softly against his pillow. "Well, does that mean it's not entirely my fault? Sort of something I'd expect you guys to catch early on..."

He let that last part hide under his breath, but Lahar grinned at his sneaky behavior. "I suppose, it was also stupid of us to let you in on the council's doings...even after we knew of your dealings with Oasis.

"What?" Nigel looked up, and sat fully erect in his bed, waiting to hear what he never expected to find out.

Lahar carried on. "We were fully aware that you were selling them ships, but we also knew you were young, and we knew of your previous history with the Calvin family back in Alvarez."

Nigel never liked hearing that title of his old home land, but let the man finish to the amusement of his bewilderment.

"As far as we're concerned, you made amends the moment to joined us for the operation years ago. We were patient with you, but I personally felt you were the only one passionate enough to stop them. After all, we both know the council themselves were never going to act."

Nigel sat back, and laughed a bit as Doranbolt stepped up to address the previous issue. "Anyway. The entire Oasis council will be brought to ERA and attend a court hearing with the Magic Council for acts of _magical terrorism_. It looks like hundreds of other criminals were also being brought in as well...and a new group called the _Lights of Freedom_ volunteered to take the reigns as leaders of the rest of the facility."

That reminded Lahar of another important issue, and prompted him to bring out a letter with a golden seal.

"I almost forgot. This is for you." He handed it to Nigel, and then gave the injured man a bow as he and Doranbolt exited the room. "Thank you once again."

Nigel let them leave, and stopped to look down at his new note. When he opened the letter, he began reading:

 _Nigel,_

 _I apologize for leaving you so unexpectedly the other night, but it occurred to me that I had a mission to complete and I couldn't wait any longer. Luckily for me, your friend Erza and her comrades were all able to rescue me from the prisoner's hallway in Lacrima Chamber A. I made it down to Lucy afterwards and...well I suppose you know the rest."_

He smiled from that part, and carried on reading.

 _"I would personally like to thank you, and the wizards of Fairy Tail, on behalf of all those in Oasis who fought against the oppression and failed. Because of you all, we have removed large portions of the old crime rings out of our cities, and brought in refugees from the outside desert. We plan on converting one of our giant lacrima crystals into a purer source of energy for the lake, and eventually plan on turning into a fully functional generator for new facility power."_

This left part left his mouth fully agape.

 _"To thank you…I have ordered for the second lacrima to be dismantled and delivered to your engineering offices in western Fiore. Consider it a gift._

 _Again, from the bottom of my heart…Thank you!_

 _Signed, Eve Wattson. New Chairman of Oasis_

 _P.S. Yes…now I finally have faith in others._

Nigel smiled with delight, and laid his head on his pillow and set the letter on his night stand. He then let a businessman's thought take his mind.

" _Hmm, now I can build those new lacrima ship generators…Thanks, Eve."_ As he sat there thinking to himself, the doors to Nigel's room busted open, revealing Natsu and the other _Fairy Tail_ wizards fully alive and ready to greet their formally injured comrade.

"Found Him! Natsu yelled in excitement. "Hehe, you're actually _Alive!_ "

"Aye!" He was joined by Happy right in his greetings. "It's good to see ya!"

Lucy joined them, and came in on the other side of Natsu. "Boy, we're sure glad to see you! We never got to thank you for pulling off that ridiculous save!"

"I heard about it on our way out." Erza agreed with Lucy as she gave Nigel a supportive nod. "What you did if full proof of your friendship to our guild. Nigel, you are welcome to visit the guild _anytime_."

"It was okay." Gajeel grinned as he leaned in from the hall. "It woulda been better had you not fallen over like some wimp."

"Stop it!" Levy laughed and smacked him on the arm. "No seriously, congrats to all of you! Laxus and the others wanted to say thanks as well, but they headed off on there own. That underground chamber sounded like a terrible place to be!"

Nigel laughed and nodded. "It sort of was, actually…but it's good to see everyone." He then tried siting up, but gave his back support on his fluffy pillow. "Thanks again for helping out on this one, guys. I owe you all _big time_!"

Everyone smiled, and Cana walked up to slam a bottle of wine right beside the bed. "Now drink up, idiot! It'll be a long trip back to Hargeon!"

"Yea, sounds good to me!" He agreed and popped the bottle cork instantly. "I hope my port's still standing without me there to run it."

"Hey that reminds me..." Wendy spoke up. "Why did you feel the need to not tell us about your past with Oasis?"

The room fell silent, and Nigel lowered his bottle. "I'm not sure, Wendy. I felt very ashamed the moment I realized what I had done three years ago...even to this day it hurts me just thinking about it."

He then looked up, and gave everyone a supportive smile. "But now I understand that I've done what I can to make up for it, and hopefully I'll be more proud of my success in business without worrying about my past."

"Yea, but I'd make sure to keep practicing that magic of yours!" Natsu cracked his knuckles. "You'll wanna train twice as hard if ya ever want to spar with me!"

"Shut up man." Gray rolled his eyes and grinned, because Natsu's blunt stupidity still managed to make him laugh. "Seriously though, like Erza said come to the guild anytime."

"Oh I will, assuming there's a drink waiting for me every time." He laughed after everyone else, and as they started clearing the area, they entire group started having their own private conversations.

Nigel tried to enjoy his wine, but made sure to get a good listen in on what everyone had to say. He started out with Gajeel and Levy, who were both standing by the door.

"I'm not gonna lie, it was _kind of hard_ for me to just sit by the sidelines and watch as you guys fought everywhere." Levy tried to explain her situation clearly. "Especially, when you went through those desert arenas! That was way too traumatizing, I can't even…"

Levy began thinking about all those awful fights, until Gajeel patted her on the head with an amused grin.

"Jeeze, will you just sit quiet for one second, Squirt? I get that'cha missed me and all, but let it go!" He laughed as she began squinting her eyes in frustration. She then wrapped her arms around his waist, and as Gajeel looked around the room to make sure no one else was looking, he embraced the hug.

Nigel laughed as he thought to himself. He then began to laugh even harder when he saw Gray with Juvia over on the other side of the room. " _Oh god, this looks good…_ "

"Oh Gray, isn't this wonderful!?" She tried tugging on his armt o get a reaction, but it took a little more discussion. "We can return to the guild hall and recite our lovely memories of how I rescued you in front of the other guild members!"

Gray turned his head in embarrassment. "Yea…I'm just gonna leave that part out when they ask…"

Nigel held in a laugh by taking a chug of his bottle, and then focused on Erza, who was talking with Wendy and Carla.

"Relax, I'm sure he'll be fine!" Wendy comforted Erza with a smile as Carla agreed. "Yes, I imagine Jellal made it out just before the Rune Knights made it through the facility."

Erza smiled at their responses, and looked out the window. "Yes, I know. It just worries me when he behaves so recklessly. Though, I do suppose everything was alright in the end."

They continued on with their conversation as Nigel thought to himself once again. " _Erza, I'm so sorry I brought him in to this…I'm sure Jellal's sorry too."_

He then circled his attention to his left, where Natsu was staring out the window.

"Happy look! That cloud looks like Igneel! He started rubbing the glass with his palm to earn a better view.

Happy scratched his head and giggled. "Natsu! I've never seen Igneel before So how am I supposed to know what he looks like!"

"I don't know!" Natsu started getting really angry, and then let out a breath. "Just go grab Lucy! She'll agree with me on this one!"

"Natsu I've neve seen him either!" She came over on her own accord and smiled softly at his goofy attitude. "But I do think it looks like a dragon."

"Hehe, see Happy?" Natsu boasted. "She's got my back!"

"Whatever you say, buddy!" Happy rolled his eyes and wondered off to find Wendy and Carla on the other side of the room.

This left Lucy with time to get Natsu's attention. "H-Hey _, Natsu?_ "

"Ya?" he kept his face glued to the window, because thanks to Wendy's perfectly timed Troia magic, this was the first time he was able to enjoy a full back and forth trip on a boat. "What's up?"

He gave her a great big toothy grin, which made Lucy smile. "It's nothing. It's just that I…"

She froze for a moment, and suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a big hug, leaving him totally confused. "I just never got the chance to thank you for rescuing me, is all. I know you're probably use to it, but…"

He looked at her and smiled again. "Don't worry, Lucy! I was just looking out for my friend!"

She smiled and continued to hug him, which mad Nigel laugh from his bed and silently raise his bottle in the air.

" _Well, well, well…_ " He thought to himself. " _look at all these Fairies…I guess I owe them all a big favor._ "

Just then Cana came over and stole the bottle from his hand. "Thanks! This was the last one on board."

Nigel laughed, and let her have it, and then started rubbing his chin. "Hey, you wanna know something?"

" _*_ _Glug!* *Glug!*_ Whut?" She was in the middle of a drink as he asked her the question.

Nigel ignored her odd response and continued grinning as he looked around the room. "This guild of yours...they're all really close to one another. Wouldn't you agree?"

Cana stopped drinking for half a moment and gauged the room, and immediately began to laugh. "Oh yea, we are. But why do you care?"

Nigel smiled and shrugged as his head hit the pillows. "I dunno...I think I just came up with an idea for a reward."

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 **Hmm, what could the reward be? Could it have something to do with the sequel? Epilogue and sequel prologue tomorrow. (If I'm not too depressed when the Browns lose.)**


	20. Epilogue

**Author's Note: Okay it's here and done! The last piece of my first ever fan fiction story! I know this story hasn't had a big following, but I would like to thank everyone who gave it a try, and especially those who kept with it til the end!**

 **However! I am not done! I will also upload the prologue for a sequel story today as a teaser for my new story. It will be a little more romantic/comedy with some drama and action as well (very _Fairy Tail_ -esc.) Please visit my profile and give it a try!**

 **Other than that, I want to thank you all so much again, and as Jon Stewart would say "Here it is, your _Moment of Zen_."**

 **Finally, I DO NOT OWN _FAIRY TAIL_.**

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Epilogue

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A couple of days have passed, and most of the guild members who were involved with Oasis decided to take a few days off the moment they arrived back in Magnolia.

From there, the entire group coincidentally started going back to the guild all at the same time. As this happened; Natsu, Lucy and Happy entered the Guild Hall and walked towards the bar.

Sitting in the immediate area was almost everyone involved with the mission at Oasis. In the entire group was Gray, Juvia, Erza, Wendy, Carla, Romeo, Gajeel, Levy, Lily, Cana and even Nigel, who apparently came to visit.

Natsu, Lucy and Happy all three smiled and greeted their friends with waves. Natsu was the first to say something, paired with a wide open grin.

"What's happin' guys?" He smiled and took a seat."You're not planning another mission without us, are ya?"

Gray turned and laughed. "Nigel was just telling us about how he had no idea Laxus and the others were going to be in Oasis."

Nigel then slammed his drink down and laughed. "More accurately, I was describing the whole situation involving Jellal and the Thunder Legion all together…especially the part where Erza went all " _Rogue One_ " and left Gray at the casino all by himself!"

The others, including Gray, began laughing . Erza on the other hand frowned and added on a few of her own words.

"Yes, well I-I hear some rumors, and needed my questions answered in the moment." She said all while blushing through her embarrassment.

Lucy laughed and agreed with the others. "That is pretty funny! So Nigel, I'm glad to see you took our invitation to visit the guild again!"

Nigel set his drink down and continued. "Yea, about that…I actually came here on _Makarov's_ behest…I needed to deliver a new set of plans."

Nigel responded when everyone stopped and listened. "Well I'm still a Business Owner, so I can't be here too often, but...I've recently placed an order for the construction of a new house on the western hill of town, and I've decided to try and direct all my companies from right here in Magnolia!"

He finished with excitement, and everyone met him with equal emotions. Lucy also smiled to make a comment. "That's awesome! But why are you scheduling for a house to built, instead of just moving into an apartment?"

He sat down and grabbed his rink with a cocky expression. "Cause I'm _filthy rich!_ "

They laughed as he continued. "I'm serious! I'm not gonna be annoying about it, but I'm learning to be more open about my money. After all it is _who I am_."

Natsu laughed and clapped his hands. "Sounds Great! Welcome to the town, buddy!"

He thanked them all for the compliments, and everything they had done on the mission. From there Nigel continued by buying everyone at the bar round of drinks. He then began discussing their reward for helping with Oasis.

"Now I know I went in expecting this to be a _month_ long trip, and we came out of it in only a week. That being said, I _did_ go ahead and pay off all your guy's rent for the entire month prior from departure, so I have a fun little _idea_ in mind for everyone's reward…However, I'm still working out the details, so don't come asking any questions."

He smiled, as Cana leaned over to grab a full bottle of liquor paid by his wallet. "Sounds good to me! Knowing you it'll be drinks all around!"

The group started laughing and cheering, and over towards the left side of the bar, Master Makarov was talking with Mirajane and Laxus in their own little world.

"OO, I'm just so happy Nigel decided to move to Magnolia!" Mira cheered brightly while also holding up her hands to her face. "He really makes people happy when they see him, and he might even help Magnolia into a bigger town!"

"Yea that is nuts..." Laxus laughed and sat his empty liquor glass hard on the bar. "So be honest with me here, Gramps. Did you have any idea me and the gang were going in to Oasis to help them out?"

Makarov rolled his eyes. "I can't say I did...it was reckless to go in on your own accord. It would have been better to travel with the others...however, your help sounded invaluable to their efforts. I'm sure Nigel was happy to see you there."

Laxus thought about that for a second. "I guess...for the record, I was't doing it for the reward."

"I believe you..." The master lifted up his own beer mug off the bar top. "…still, I wonder what the man has in store for our rowdy bunch over there."

"Eh, beats me." Laxus finished his drink and laughed as he rolled around and hopped off his bar. "I'm headin' home early."

Master Makarov thought to himself while smiling as Mira laughed at Laxus stumbling away. He then sighed and raised the beer mug to his lips. _"I imagine it will be fitting for their time spent in Oasis. After all, from the sounds of everything that unfolded, the man practically treats this guild like his very own family."_

 _The End!_

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 **That's all she wrote! Thanks again, and check out the sequels! You actually have TWO options now!**

 **You can either follow this story with Fairy Tail _-_ OPERATION: _Vacation!_ , or you can skip to a different sequel entirely and join Lucy, Natsu, Nigel, and everyone else in the other sequel, Fairy Tail - _I Choose You!_ , which also happens to be a cross over between _Fairy Tail_ and the _Pokemon_ video game series.**

 **Choose, and enjoy! :D**

 **-HappyCamper999**

 ** _P.S. GO BROWNS!...they won today...whoo!_**

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 ***EDIT* This story was updated since its original release! It took a while, but I feel like the changes were all for the best! I tried making Nigel's back ground more interesting...Hope it works!**

 **P.S. Again: I cannot lie about this, but I finished these edits the Saturday of Christmas Eve...the Browns won their first game of the season today! I went to edit this final chapter, and smiled when I saw the original "PS GO BROWNS!" post I made a year ago still sitting there.**

 **So for coincidence's sake, I had to make sure to say it again.. _._** ** _GO BROWNS!_**


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